KaiserCartel Diary

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:09:00 +0000

We are in New Mexico right now because we have a couple days off. Our friend and the celloist from the record Nina Lee and her quartet The Brentano Quartet are teaching at the Taos School of Music. It is incredibly beautiful here. We will be playing on the radio here KTAO on Wed. July 30th at 3:30pm if you are around these parts and want to tune in.

Everything has been going well. Some shows are better attended than others, but what can you expect when you play a college town on a monday night? We are so glad to be out on the road and to be meeting new fans of our music as we have been hitting some new markets.

I do miss little Ivan (our dog) and hope that we will be swinging through NYC to pick him up for out last leg out with Lucinda Black Bear. He loves being on the road;) Check out our schedule on www.kaisercartel.com to see new dates that have been posted.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:13:00 +0000

So, we just left a rest area on the border of Iowa and Missouri. There was this medium sized black and white dog running around. I called it over and it only came within a few feet. We started to leave and saw the dog heading for the highway. I asked Benjamin to get on the right side of the dog to try to stop if from getting on the ramp. We successfully got him to go back to the rest area. He ran over to the grass and rested under a tree. I noticed that his back right leg seemed to be giving him some trouble. I didn't know what to do, so Ben said "why don't you go inside and ask about it?" I went in and the grounds keepers told me that someone left him there that morning. Apparently, someone dumped some dog food on the side walk, and the early day workers assumed they were just feeding him. Then they noticed a bit later that the dog was still there. They said they would call the animal services, but Im afraid of what that means. We had no room for the dog in the car, and it just broke my heart to leave him there. I named him Snoopy. We did another lap around to look for him because I thought if I could lure him to me, I would call myself. But he was no where to be found. How could someone just leave this dog? It was probably at least 8 years old. How do people just decide to ditch a dog they have had a long time at a rest area. I know that there will be karma to be paid, so that makes me feel better. I don't think the dog will leave my mind anytime soon. If you're looking for a dog, it's just off of 35 North.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:55:00 +0000

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?

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:40:00 +0000

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.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 11:48:00 +0000

The pictures above are a funny "No Swimming" sign in Florida and one of the beds we slept in while staying in Atlanta....Thank god for good friends! What a room!

Aug. 4, 2007 Birdy's (Indianapolis, IN)
It's always interesting to play at Birdy's. You never know who is going to be there. The demographic is constantly changing. We were unable to have a soundcheck and there were some serious technical difficulties before we played. It always pays to have a soundcheck. I think the soundman Al will make sure to do that the next time.....It was a fun show, but we will be sure to play with my old friends the next time.

Aug. 3, 2007 The Launching Pad (Muncie, IN)
Muncie is a weird city. It's a college town, but it doesn't feel like one to me. I always compare college towns to Bloomington, IN and nothing compares so far. It was a nice show. The Launching Pad is a new all ages place and according to the local police who rolled up to talk to me as I was standing outside, it is welcome to the community. He said that so far Muncie hasn't done anything for it's youth. Therefore, he was glad that this new place existed. We were booked with The Postmarks from Miami, FL. We will be playing with them again in Chapel Hill. They are great people and write good music. We noticed a flyer for Swati (NY) after soundcheck and wanted to support her. Swati was amazing. We had not seen her live yet. She is a bundle of sound for one person. She also played a few songs with a bass player named Taylor. We really liked her personally and musically. The bands we played with at The Launching Pad were, The Postmarks, Rodeo Ruby Love, This Story, and The Extraordinaires. It was fun.

Aug. 2, 2007 Cowboy Monkey (Champaign, IL)
Cowboy Monkey was a surprise. We have never played Champaign before. We had a very warm welcome from the promoter whose band also played. The food was good and the staff treated us well. It was a really nice venue with great sound. There were a lot of people there for the show. Everyone was quiet and attentive. We also played with a great band called Beauty Shop. They have released their records mostly in England. I know we will make a stop here again.

Aug. 1, 2007 The Basement (Nashville, TN)
There are some great vintage stores in Nashville. Hip Zipper is amazing. Everything is so affordable and in great condition. We both bought a couple of things while we were there. If we didn't have an already packed car, we would have bought more. We always enjoy playing The Basement, although we were bummed that Mike Grimey (the owner) couldn't make it. He has a job he does ever other week and it happened that when we were there he had to work. The sound man was an ex-New Yorker and was excited to be running sound for us. I think it reminded him of being at home. The opener Louisa Lopez, was awesome. She had just moved to Nashville from Dallas. Kimberly Quinn, the last person who played, was also a great singer and seemed to be a very "Nashville" style artist. We look forward to our return.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:11:00 +0000

July 28, 2007 Eddie's Attic (Decatur, GA)
Eddie's Attic is our favorite place to play! Eddie is the sweetest guy you would ever meet. Also, he is a big music lover and has been supportive of original music in Atlanta for a long long time. Shalom is the sound man at Eddie's and every time the sound is perfect on stage and off stage. Eddie's Attic is a real listening room and we are always given a show that will be sure to be packed. That is helpful for a band trying to develop a following in a new city. We played with Paul Melancon and The Arts and Sciences. They are amazing! Paul's voice and song writing really blew us away. They are definitely our favorite band that we have played with the whole tour. My friend Lee Cuthbert (friend of 12 years) played in his band on guitar. She has incredible skills. It was such a pleasure to see her play again. She and her girlfriend Andrea housed us for two nights while we were there. They have a little apartment in their basement.

We sold a lot of cds and t-shirts and couldn't have had a better show. The audience was attentive, laughed at our jokes, and cried in all the appropriate places in the set:) A friend of ours Susan (from the Suzi French Connection) said that she was embarrassed to be getting all teary eyed during the set. We are glad when we can have such a strong effect on people. Then the music really means something. We brought a bit of rain with us, but then again, for some reason we always have a bit of rain when we come to Atlanta. We can't wait to come back and hope to do a residency at Eddie's in the near future.

July 26, 2007 Egan's (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)
Egan's is a really fun place. We weren't sure what to make of it at first, a show in a college town, during the summer, in Alabama...We were pleasantly surprised, Ashley, the manager of Egan's was excited to see us and bought us dinner. We played after a band called SpotAlbert who were a sort of blues/Irish fusion band. They were ex punk rockers. We really enjoyed their set. Bo was gracious enough to run sound for us because it is a DIY sound kind of place. We were thankful since we aren't that technically inclined. The show was great and the crowd was into our music. Again, we sold a lot of cds and got email addresses for the mailing list. Elliott (from the Dexateens) took us out for a southern style lunch and Bo who worked there on his lunch break, picked up the tab! It was a nice first experience for us in Alabama and we will definitely be back. The picture at the top of the page is Elliot (Dexateens) and his son Grey.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:39:00 +0000

Last Concert Cafe (Houston, TX) July 25, 2007
We just left Houston, Tx! We had a great show at the Last Concert Cafe. What a wild place. It is like none other that we have ever seen! It is big with an outdoor stage, picnic tables, sand, and great Mexcian food. There are giant hula hoops and the most talnted hula hoopers come and do their thing while you are playing. They enjoyed moving their bodies to our music. Apparently, if they don't hula hoop during your set, that means your music is not welcome! What a cool new way to judge music! Crazy right? Our hosts were Brian and Amber who were more than hospitable! Not only did they set up the show and make the best posters ever, but they let us sleep at their house! We had our own room and they even had a glass of wine waiting for us when we arrived. Amber cooked us breakfast in the morning! Wow, it doesn't get any better than that! We played before a band that plays there every wed night named Pot Roast. It doesn't reference the meat if that gives you an indication. It was funny to play with them after playing with a band called The Chicken Lovers in California...

Austin Java, KUT radio, and ME TV (Austin, TX) July 24, 2007
Boy do we love Austin! The show was fun and we played with an old highschool friend of mine Melinda who has a group called MJ Baby Band. We got free food and drink and the audience was very responsive. Melinda housed us and made us great coffee in the morning. KUT radio station invited us to play a show hosted by Laurie. We were so pleased with how it sounded and the support we got from them.. Kory and Cliff (producer and engineer) were incredibly nice and were a pleasure to work with. We will gvie you a link in the future that you can use when it airs. Lastly, but not least we had the opportunity to play and be interviewed on ME TV! Wow, what a great bunch of people. We will post a video of that once we have it on our hands. We can't wait to come back to Austin for SXSW.

The Cavern (Dallas, TX) July 23, 2007
Dallas is the vintage mecca of the world. We had to say that first! The Cavern is a cool venue to play. The sound was great and we had a nice time there. It seems like the city has lost some of it's music venues, so we are glad that The Cavern is still trying to do their best to get original local and national bands heard in the city of Dallas. Our friend Drew Flemming who we toured in Europe with asked his mom Susan if we could stay with her. She was so nice. It is always a good time to stay with people's parents! We got to see pictures of Drew when he was just a lad, as well as his early drawings and paintings. We particularly liked his painting of the two legged fox.

Murphey's (Memphis, TX) July 21, 2007
This was a wild place. The locals were in full effect drinking whiskey fillled drinks and dancing to anything playing on the jukebox. It was an intimate crowd as we were playing while against an Al Green, and a local favorite named Harlan T. Bobo's cd release party. Half of us went out to see Harlan's show, while the other half slept and watched tv. Benjamin was the half to go see Harlan play. He really liked it and thought it was very original. Brad was our host and they cooked us a mighty breakfast in the morning. People in Memphis love music, so we will be sure to be back to play.

Fitzgerald's (Berwyn, IL) July 20th, 2007
This is a nice music venue. The owner Bill is enthusiastic about music and invited us to come back. We played with DiveBar whom we've played with before, but had to miss their set due to our having a show in one hour at Uncommon Ground. The sound was great as was the audience. We look forward to coming back.

Uncommon Ground (Chicago. IL) July 20th, 2007
It is difficult to play two shows in one night, but sometimes it just has to happen. It was a fun show and our good friend Michael McDermott even came by to show his support! There were a few sound issues with the DI boxes which was a bit frustrating. We ended up playing more of the set unplugged than we had planned. Our friend Matt Suhar housed us that night. He tried to get us to stay an extra day by offering to take us to a pool in the suburbs where wild animals roam free..he kept mentioning the foxes and deer that would walk up to us and let us pet them! Next time Matt, we will stay longer we promise!

Lucas School House (St. Louis, MO) July 19, 2007
The show at Lucas School House was hosted by Playback:STL. We love that St. Louis music magazine. Jim and Laura are such great people. Lucas School House is a beautiful room with great sound and one of the nicest sound men ever. The other bands were awesome and also welcoming. You never know what the other acts will be like. We are excited to come back and play this venue in the future.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:45:00 +0000

We jammed with some traditional Irish musicians at a place called Dolans in Limmerick the other night. They were incredible! We felt so honored to be asked to play. They sat down with us at our dinner table and we song shared with them. It was a very memorable experience and other people we have met here in Dublin have said that we had a rare experience.....

Also, I have to make a correction. I spelled Cathy Davey wrong in the last post. She is one of the musicians we played with at Doyles. You should check her out as she will be coming around the US soon.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 14:19:00 +0000

Our show at Doyle's

We played last night in Dublin. The evening was called 'ruby sessions' at Doyle's. We played a 25 minute set with Kathy Davies, Danielle Smith, and Brandi Haile. It was definitly girls night out on musician side. Kathy Davies is on the Radiohead label. She has a beautiful voice and smart songs. Danielle Smith played solo and started her set acapella. Brandi's songs were dreamy and made me really relaxed.
Connor was the host of the evening and introduced each band and made sure that the room was constantly quiet.

We played a stripped down version of our set which means no drum set. Ben and Drew switched on and off using a percussion box called a Kalhoun (not sure if I spelled that right). It sounded really nice. I think we should look into getting one, we could downsize our equiptment even more! The audiece gave us a standing ovation which was a really nice feeling. They also really loved Daniel! I was a afraid he might pack his bags and become a local Dublin cat, but thankfully, he decided to stay with us and make sure the rest of our shows go well. We have enjoyed being here and look forward to our show tonight at Sin E Dublin.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:24:00 +0000

Hello from Ireland! We are sitting in an internet cafe in Dublin. It is raining outside and we have just eaten a bunch of flapjacks (butter,oats, and sugar). I think we really need some vegetables soon! Our first leg in England was awesome! the first gig was at a place called the Windmill a bit off the beaten path. It had a sort of Caribbean vibe to it. we played with 3 other bands who were very cool and played really nice music (Bone-Box, Stars of Aviation, and Sister). We couldn't have asked for a more attentive audience. Also, Stuart the promoter, was so sweet and has already asked us about coming back again. Yippee (We're thinking Nov).
After the gig, we slept at a friends house who was squatting. This was my first experience doing this. It seemed completly normal, the only drawback of squatting is no hot water.

The second show was at Betsy Trotwoods. It is an intimate place with a listening crowd. We played with Alf who were a really great band and Hoover Pitman which are old friends of Benjamin's. Again, another night of great music. The sound was really good and we met a lot of interesting people afterwards. Playing to a new audience has been fun. I have been getting goosebumps while we play which I hope means that we are giving them to the audience.

The third show was at a place called the Roadhouse in Manchester. That was a fun gig which we played with Bone box again. We were pretty tired at that point of the English run because we had only slept for a total of 10 hours in 3 days...I know that benjamin is going to do another posting soon, and since the computer is flashing angry messages at me in Irish to get off...I better go for now.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 03:31:00 +0000

We have been busy as bees getting ready for Europe, ordering new tote bags, making cds, and packing. We will be video blogging the US tour so check it out on myspace as we go along. We are looking forward to seeing you all soon. Whew, now that thats all said, I am going to bed,,,,,CK

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:59:00 +0000

Journey to the center of the USA.

Courtney and I started driving out of Brooklyn at 5:30pm on Wednesday March 29th. After a 2 hour long traffic jam, we were out of the NY/ NJ area. We drove, and, drove, and drove until we hit the outskirts of Cleveland. Not much to tell about the trip other than it was long and we listened to Neil Young ‘Zuma,’ at least 5 times.

Day 2 more driving from a motel outside Cleveland area to Euclair Wisconsin. We made a few stops along the way. We witnessed a few strange occurrences at a Goodwill store in Madison, Wisconsin. At this point you should know that all our goodwill/salvation army stops are just par for the KaiserCartel travel course.

Courtney noticed a brawny young woman fighting with an equally brawny, life-sized, puma by the cash register. I didn’t see the young woman at first, but when I finally did, it was hard for me to take my eyes off her. It was strangely fascinating the way she glared at the bear with a maniacal intensity and wrapped her hands tightly around it’s neck. I wondered what the puma could have done to make this woman so angry.

The strangeness continued - a boy, about eight years old, came up to the cash register to ask the cashier with a shopping cart full of sweaters, “are these sweaters made of wool,” The cashier, barely communicative, clearly battling with her own mental demons, gave the boy a puzzled look and said nothing. Courtney blurted in with a laugh, “there’s usually a tag, but this one doesn’t have one. I don’t think it is.” Earlier Courtney had overheard the boys mother ask the boy to ‘find all the non-wool sweaters in the store. I wondered if this was some kind of elaborate punishment.

We were run-down from an 8 hour day of driving and spent the night in Euclair. We pulled up to an Econo motor lodge and checked in. Before we brought our bags into our room, we passed by a window with the curtains drawn wide open. Two men in jeans, flannel shirts, and construction boots, were sharing a dimly lit, room. Both drinking beers and one was lying on the bed and looking out the window at us is if he were watching us on tv.

Courtney and I were deeply creeped out by the two men. We were actually afraid to leave our room for fear of the crazy drunken, construction workers wandering thru the motel. Eventually all these dark thoughts left our minds as we distracted ourselves with internet, tv, and pizza delivery.

MINNEAPOLIS in March.

Our first day in Minneapolis was a whirlwind of activity. We had practice with a guest electric guitarist, a sound-check at Varsity Theater, a coffee break, an early, all-ages show, then off to an appearance at a song-writer-in-the-round coffee house Hootenanny, then back to Varsity for the late, 21 and up, show. All of the 3 shows happened in the short span of 4 hours.

We were the opening band for the cd release show for Cloud Cult, an up in coming band from the Minneapolis area, at The Varsity Theater. Apparently, the cd release show(s) was one of the most publicized shows in town that night -so there was a lot of tension and hype added to the show and the general feeling at the Varsity Theater.

We spent a lot of time hanging out with the Cloud Cult folks and the other openers, The Hot IQs from Denver, Colorado. The Hot IQ’s were kind enough to share their gear a very needy duo. We couldn’t have shared a nicer bill. Both bands were fantastic and we were glad to make new friends.

6-7pm Our first set at Varsity felt rushed and we struggled on stage. The sound on stage - was less than perfect. Our room-to-move on stage was about half the size of a Manhattan studio apartment -so our ‘rapid instrument changes’ were less-than rapid. The club gave us little to no time for a proper sound check. Michael Arnold, our friend from the Minneapolis band, Revolver Modelle, did an excellent job as guest guitarist for both sets.

Ivan, Courtney’s dog, got to hang our back stage in the green room at Varsity Theater and meet all the bands. After our first performance, we had to run off to Jim Walsh’s Hootenanny, a songwriters-in-the-round at a nearby coffee house. We left Ivan in back in the green room to fend for himself as we sped off to the Hootenanny. I felt like some kind dog-ditcher/abusive pet owner leaving him alone in the green room, but we knew he’d be ok.

7pm - 8:30pm The song writers-in-the-round was a surprisingly a lot of fun. Jim Walsh, a Minneapolis music journalist and singer/songwriter, was the host of the Hootenanny. He gave us a big introduction as soon as he saw that we were there. We hung out on stage drinking wine and telling jokes and stories, and sharing songs with some local singer/songwriters. It was a completely unplugged, , lo-fi as you can go type of sound situation. How can you go wrong with the sound system, when there is no sound system.

The crowd, a lot larger than I had imagined, was receptive, attentive, and clapped and sang along with many of the songs. I had the feeling that Courtney and I had traveled back in time to the days when Bob Dylan used to play folk songs in coffee house of Minneapolis, in the early 60’s. There was something so easy-going about the vibe at Jim’s Hootenanny, that was nothing like our show at The Varsity Theater.

Towards the end of our time at the Hootenanny, an energetic, red-haired, freckle faced, 11 year-old boy named Graham came up on stage and played one of his own original songs. Though I could barely hear his shy little voice, his guitar playing was strong. I was impressed because he was so earnest, willing, and ready to get up on stage and play.
The audience roared and cheered loudly for him. How could you not.

9 - 9:30pm When we came back to the Varsity Theater, we found Ivan living it up. He was wrapped in a red satin blanket, snuggled next to Dan, a dog-loving band member of Cloud Cult. He had become the talk of the green room. We were relieved.

Courtney and I agreed that playing at the Hootenanny made it easier for us to relax and have more fun with our second show at Varsity Theater. Our second show at Varsity was a lot smoother and enjoyable for us, compared to our first.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 02:44:00 +0000

Tom Herbers and Minneapolis here we come.....

So, Ben and I are getting ready to drive from NYC out to Minneapolis. We have met an incredible producer and engineer named Tom Herbers. You might know some of his work from the MN native Low. His studio is amazing and there is such an energy there. We will be finishing the last four songs of the new record to be out this summer at the end of March. We are really excited about it.

We will also be playing two shows at the Varisty Theater with Cloud Cult. We couldn't be in MN without playing. Cloud Cult is a cool band, so you should check them out. You can find them on myspace of course! We will let you know how it all goes.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 02:03:00 +0000

Have you ever bought a car in NYC? What an experience. We are looking into buying a used Prius hybrid and boy, I feel like we're in the movies. We have talked to Freddie, Carmine, Bernie, and Vinnie....a lot of "e" endings in these names. What does that mean? Anyway, I think we are on the verge. We initially wanted a Volvo because they seem to last forever, but we are also environmentally concious, and feel better about our consant touring and driving to gigs if we have a more concious car. We are excited about it. We will let you know if we get it and will post a picture. That means that our beautiful three door Saturn Sadie, will be given away and we'll have to name a new car. Any ideas?

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 17:54:00 +0000

We had an amazing show last night at The Living Room. Thank you so much to Liz Tormes for inviting us to play with her. She is an amazing singer and her songs are beautiful too. If you aren't familiar with her work, please check her out on myspace. Nina Lee from the Brentano Quartet joined us last night on her cello and it was breathtaking. We really had a good time and appreciated all of your support. The Living Room is an incredible place to see a show and from our side of things, it has one of the best sound systems we have ever played on. It makes such a difference for the musicians. Thank you to Bentley for being a talented sound engineer. We hope you are out enjoying the beautiful weather in New York, we are!

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:52:00 +0000

June 28th, 2006 The SweetShop
Lewisburg, West Virginia

We got up way too early in Nashville. Ben heard little Clara singing in the living room of Betsy and Andy Snyder’s house. They housed us and fed us as they usually do in Nashville. They are very good people. Ben heard “yah yah” the Clara alarm and there was nothing to do but get up.

We had a really long drive and had procrastinated enough at a coffee shop in the little five points area of Nashville and Courtney talked to her friend Paul on the phone. We are suckers for the wireless connection coffee shops! But it is the only way for us to communicate with everyone that is not with us, so we welcome the new technology.

The drive was long and tiring but incredibly beautiful. On the way, we stocked up on fireworks in Tennessee at Courtney’s request. You can light off huge fireworks in that state in your own backyard, so every summer Courtney wants to stop and pick some up to bring back for the friends and family. Of course, we won’t be setting them off in New York since they are illegal! We regressed in our adolescence and bought $55.00 worth.

As we continued driving we finally reached the border of West Virginia, and like huge John Denver fans would, we instinctively started singing “Country road, take me home, to the place, I belong, West Virginia, mountain mama, take me home, country road.”

We arrived at the Sweet Shop with a very warm welcome from our host Allen and our friend Otis (who had us on the show with him). Otis is an incredible musician and made us feel like we were at home since he was there and was a veteran to playing in West Virginia. The show went well and people listened. It was an intimate crowd, but we weren’t sure what to expect and since the sound was fantastic, we had a great time no matter what.

Allen and his wife Genie have a band called the Rust Kings. They are a great band and awesome people. They offered up their house to us after the show. We got to their hand built house by Allen and were in awe. It was such a beautiful place. They had three dogs, two cats, and two french chickens. We spoke about wind power and the negative effects it will have on their area. We spoke about NYC and it’s fast pace compared to West Virginia’s more relaxed atmosphere. And then we got tired and had to go to sleep.

When we woke up, Genie made breakfast, we talked more and then we needed to leave. They are such good people. We will be happy to see them again in NYC and to come and visit their home in West Virginia.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:20:00 +0000

Tuesday, June 27th
The Gig-The Basement

I am writing this entry while Ben is driving. We have a long drive to West Virginia next. We had a late start, but we’ll make it. The gig last night was our second time at The Basement in Nashville, TN. We love the venue and we love the city. There is so much music here it’s sick! Even the homeless are extremely talented. Now one would think that it would then be intimidating, but strangely it makes it a very supportive place to be. We were welcomed back by the owner of the place Mike Grimey. He also co-owns an awesome record store above the venue called Grimey’s which The Drive By Truckers played an instore at earlier in the day. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see it. We hit some stopped traffic on the highway due to a two semi collision and we had to of course check out the Antique district in Glendale (I couldn’t buy anything because we were too rushed, but I highly recommend stopping in these little towns to check them out! It’s a nice break from the highway, and a good way to meet people from the area).

The night was called “New Faces” at the Basement. It is a no cover charge evening for mostly local bands to showcase their new groups. We were warmly introduced by Mike and the crowd was completely quiet and attentive. They especially liked all the songs and let us play a lot longer than we were supposed to. It was also a fantastic response at the merch table afterwards. There was an actual line for cds which made us feel good. I also have to mention that the press welcomed us as well. We got a nice article written and pictures of us in the “City Paper”, Nashville’s free press and a picture of us in the paper “All the Rage” put in telling readers about our show.

We appreciate such a notable music city like Nashville opening their arms to us. It is the people of a city that makes it great, and there are honorable people in Nashville. We cannot thank them enough. We also have to thank Mike at Grimey’s and Andy and Betsy Snyder for feeding us and housing us during our stay. We couldn’t do any of this without the help and hospitality of kind friends!

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 14:49:00 +0000

Friday, June 23rd @ Gunther Murphy’s - Chicago

We got into Chicago with plenty of time to spare before our show at Gunther’s and hung out our good friends, the Suhars-Matt, Susan, and Stella.

We showed up at Gunther Murphy’s around 8pm, had plenty of time to hang out, drink, and be merry before our show. Michael McDermott, a Chicago singer-songwriter, was there with Matt and others as our support group for the night. Half of Rogue Wave showed up to the gig. They had an early gig on a tv show in the morning and another in the afternoon and had the night off. We were surprised to see them. It’s a small rock n’ roll world after all.

There were too very kind and friendly local bands on the bill that night, one called The Demilos, who set up the show, and the other was Forty Piece Choir. I got to talk with both bands and shoot the breeze. After the breeze was shot, we had a show to play. We had another super attentive crowd, at Murphy’s. At one point Courtney said, “could you talk, just a little, you’re making us nervous,” and so they did. However, later I wanted them talk a little less and thought to myself, “Ok, you don’t have to take us sooo literally.”

It was a great show with a great crowd, a few photo flashes in our face (made us feel all the more fabulous), lots of merch sold after the show, and a great time for Courtney and I. We even had a few drinks. When I say a few, I do mean a few, we’re not known for our drinking. In fact we don’t even like to drink much at all. A big drinking’ night for us is one with two drinks.
It was a big night.

Saturday, June 24th @ Horseshoe Bar - Chicago

In the morning of our gig I felt sicker than a dog. Man, what 3 beers can do to a lightweight. Courtney was not sick, but helped nurse me back to health. We met Matt’s parents. Matt’s mom asked me if I had a long night. She saw me with my head hanging down at the kitchen table. No wonder. Matt cooked up some eggs and brats for a very Chicago breakfast and I wondered if I’d be able to stomach them. Then little Stella calls me into her playroom in her little voice, “c’m ere." She commands me to sit down in a two-year-old sized wooden chair. We played with teddy bears and toy pianos. I found it was easy to forget about a hangover in Stella’s room.
Courtney came into the playroom and taught Stella a children’s song she wrote called “Snakes,” complete with accompanying snake dance. Later we sang the ever popular, “Elevator why don’t you take me up up, up, up,” and it became a big hit with the little lady.

After lots of hanging out and playing with Stella at the Suhar house, we drove to the gig. We’d had been added to the bill last-minute (a week in advance) and when we got to the club the management hadn’t been told about our addition to the show. A bartender/manager told us he didn’t know anything about anything about KaiserCartel. I briefly wondered if we would play at all that night. He also told us that a number of people had called the club and had even come by looking for us and asking if we would be playing that night. Not knowing about us, he turned all the people away.

Many of the people who might have come to us, had been scared away. We found out that owner/manager who arranged our booking was away on vacation in Australia and neglected to tell the management. The other bands in the room were confused when we came in, and had “who-the-hell-are-you,” looks on their faces, understandably so. We had a few friends in the bar, but over-all it was a weird scene. Nobody us and the audience was probably most inattentive and least responsive we’ve had.

It was hard for me to get too down about it. I got to meet one of my favorite indie bands from years ago, The Smoking Popes. They were chatting with Matt on business, I’m not sure what kind of business, but it was nice to know our man in Chicago was ‘working’ the room.’ It’s worth saying there were a few cool new faces. Forgive me if I can’t remember any names right now. When I’m home and the cards come out of wallets and backpacks I say “Oh yeah, I remember that guy.”

We played our usual set, with our usual zeal. The minority of people who were paying attention to our music took notice and came up to us after the show. There was a lot of talking, not much music-listening to the other bands on the bill as well, so it was hard to take the gig too seriously. We’d gotten a good-sized guarantee, for our short set, so we weren’t complaining. However, after were off stage we left as quickly as possible. We just didn’t feel like hanging out. The Suhar Home was much more fun!

VINTAGE CLOTHES- Chicago
Chicago is a great town for thrifting and we were there over a weekend so I should have been garage-sale shopping, but Stella was too cute to leave the house and we really felt like relaxing. We will see what the next show holds!

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 14:49:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 00:40:00 +0000

Thursday, June 22nd @ Indie Coffee - Madison
The Gig

We were very excited about our first ever show in Wisconsin, land of cheese. We
didn’t know what to expect from our little coffee house gig. As we drove down from Minneapolis we stopped at a dairy joint to buy ‘real wisconsin cheese!’ Courtney picked a lovely little 5 pound flat cheese in the shape of a mouse for her grandmother.
It was a beautiful moment in Wisconsin tourism.

On our way down to Madison, we learned from JJ, the manager of Indie Coffee, that The band Rogue Wave, friends of Courtney’s, were playing at a larger venue with The Stills across the street from us.

Our trip to Madison couldn’t be more simple than our road trip the day before.
We arrived in Madison with some time to kill before the show. It was then that Courtney went off to pursue her thrift/vintage mission-from-god.
Testify Sister...

VINTAGE SHOPPING

I only had a short amount of time so I wasn’t able to scavenge in thrift stores. But, I did find an excellent vintage store . I found three pairs of clogs and an awesome Jethro Tull t-shirt from 1977. I am wearing some of the clogs right now! They had excellent cowboy boots and some cool clothes. Madison is definitely a hot spot.

THE GIG
We played our show at 8pm to a cozy little coffee shop crowd. In the front row were Pat and Evan, the rhythm section of Rogue Wave. It was possibly our most ‘intimate’ show and by far the kindest, gentlest, show we have played so far. We managed to make new converts by the end of the show. We had a good time at the coffee house. The management JJ and Barrett were very kind and supportive. Their 5 year old son Wilson was mesmerized by my mini drum set and our xylophone.

So after we played we ran across the street to see Rogue Wave’s show at the Annex.
We became new fans. Courtney and I enjoyed their show so much that we went back to their merch table and bought shirts and cds. Minutes later we chatted with the band as they loaded up their gear and got ready to head out to Chicago.

We had our own heading to do as well. We didn’t have much time to hang around in Madison. We were off to spend the night in Morton before going to visit Courtney’s grandma the next day. It was a crazy late night drive. We were both too tired for the trip, but that didn’t stop us. We were heavily armed with a book-on-tape, ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ and some dried fruits and nuts, and we were road warriors again ready to take on Route 55!

Nearly half asleep, we made it to the Quality Inn, our first motel on tour, cause for celebration. We would have celebrated if we weren’t so tired. Instead, we watched the House and Garden channel, I video taped our Motel room, and passed out.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Sun, 25 Jun 2006 00:40:00 +0000

Wednesday, June 21st @ Varsity Theater - Minneapolis

Courtney and I started our day at 6am to prepare for a mutha of a drive to Minneapolis from St. Louis. What a trip it was. Rather than driving on a lot of main interstate highways, we took the smaller roads, particularly Route 61 North, I lost track what road we were on while driving through Iowa and Wisconsin. I started to wear down and was delirious after 5 hours of small, one lane highways, with stop and go traffic through centers of small towns. I had to hand the steering wheel over to Courtney.

I became the navigator, and proceeded to video every pretty little town and lake that we passed.While opening the window lost in my video camera, a piece of paper flew out the window. we figured out that it was our directions to the venue. Courtney and I looked into each other’s eyes and burst out laughing for at least 5 minutes.

The scenery was beautiful. I didn’t stop my mad video shoot, but I managed to keep my window rolled up and the next set of directions off the dash board. However, the drive was endless. After nearly 14 hours in the car, we reached Minneapolis. We missed our sound check, but were just in time for the start of the show.

Another good batch of local bands, Thunder in the Valley, Mike Gunther and His Restless souls, and us, the curiosity group. We got to meet, greet, and talk with all the bands who were good musicians as well as being easy-going people. There were return customers, (from our last show in December) old friends, and big crowds to fill up the large room.

The show-up-and-play gigs always feel rushed and strange, but the scene at the Varsity was so mellow and accommodating, that it was easy for us to pull it off. Thankfully, Thunder in The Valley was on first, so that was another thing to help us deal with our road-weariness.

Courtney secured our dinner while I set up the drums and prepared our Fantastic Planet dvd to be projected behind ourselves on the movie screen as we played. I also gave our sound man Eric a camera to video our show. Video madness continues!

The show was well-recieved. We laughed about our impossible journey from St. Louis to Minneapolis and told our travel woes to the audience. They laughed along with us. Theaudience was incredibly attentive. I swear could hear a pin drop in-between songs, a very light, and small pin at that. It was almost disturbingly quiet during our set.

It is also worth noting that there was a dancing’ man in sweat pants, sleeveless shirt, headband, basketball sneakers, with hair in a ponytail whose dancing was even more exuberant than the the man in Indianapolis. I refrained from thanking the second dancer. He also asked Courtney after the show, how many times she had circled the sun. He was an interesting charscter.

The show was over by 12am. The night seemed to start and finish so fast. Or maybe it was that we were so burnt out that world kept spinning fast around our tired bodies. We drove back to our good friend, Karrie Vrabel’s (the one we often refer to as our “Pimp in Minneapolis”) had a sleepy little hangout, and then collapsed.

Courtney is sad to say because our driving day was soooo impossibly long there was no thrift/vintage opportunities.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:55:00 +0000

Tuesday, June 20th @ Cicero’s - St. Louis

KaiserCartel’s working day started out on the earlier side at 1pm we were at St. Louis’ NBC affiliate to play on a midday show called ‘Show Me St. Louis.’

There were a few communication mishaps with ourselves and the producer about what kind of gear we needed to bring to the NBC set. Eventually all was worked out, but at one point we had Courtney’s cousin Kip on hand to lend us a PA, if need be. Miscommunication was in the air.

Before we went on to fully seize our 3 minutes of fame on St. Louis regional TV, we were introduced, by the show’s MC as the “brother and sister duo called Kaiser.” If you look at a video of the show I think you can see Courtney laughing to each other after our introduction. We played a total of 15 seconds of ‘Okay,’ 15 seconds of ‘Teresa,’ and then 30 seconds of ‘Okay,’ which actually adds up to 1 minute of fame, to be exact.

VINTAGE SHOPPING IN ST. LOUIS
Being famous was a lot of fun I have to admit, but then there’s the important business at hand. We gave ourselves plenty of time to go thrifting and vintage clothing hunting. The first place we journeyed too in St. Louis was closed. Oh man, what a comedown from midday TV fame.

Then we met a man who told us of another great place not far away. We get over there in great anticipation, and what happens “Closed On Tuesdays” is what happens. What is with this place? Who closes on a Tuesday? Apparently a lot of people in St. Louis. Well, it was starting to seem that we weren’t going to find anything in this great city to go to so we started driving towards our gig destination. We ended up taking a route past a Goodwill and a Salvation Army. We were both able to walk away with a little something but nothing to write home about. And then.....it happened. We saw it, I paniced....there it was..I vintage store open! We walked inside. The placed was incredible! I mean amazing! I bought five things: a 50’s white and pink eyelet dress, a seersucker wrap around dress, an incredible black 30’s dress which deserves a cameo on the collar, a pair of victorian bloomers, and a red play suit. Ben bought a seersucker pin striped suit jacket. Wow, what an incredible find!

THE GIG-ST. LOUIS
We played at Cicero’s for Playback STL, sponsored night with some very tight, talented bands and soloists- Jon Yeager, Stephen Donavan, and band called John Boy’s Courage. They were all kind to the out-of-towners (us), which makes a difference when you’re on the road meeting strangers night after night. Jim and Laura from Playback are also our good friends of ours for a couple of years now. They are the foundation for the St. Louis support group, and for that I am grateful.

It was our second time at Cicero’s and St. Louis,and we notice the crowd was even larger and more attentive than before. Was it because of ‘Show Me St. Louis,’I assured the audience that we were not brother and sister. We enjoyed a very warm, and attentive crowd. St. Louis was receptive. Sadly we had no dancers in the audience, but we did have new fans and enthusiasts by the end of the night.

Courtney gave her ‘see An Inconvenient Truth,’ speech on stage and ended up wrapping with a skeptical republican after the show. It’s amazing how many people don’t know about the damage to the earth’s environment and what global warming is. I think Courtney was talking to a guy who did not believe that global warming was real. I will spare you the political rant. All I can say is - SEE AN INCONVIENENT TRUTH! It is an education, full of scientific facts. Every night Courtney says something on stage to our audiences about it. She wants to take the opportunity to inspire people to do their own research and hopefully will in turn take action in their own way.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:55:00 +0000

Friday, June 16th @ Radio Radio - Indianapolis

THE GIG-INDIANAPOLIS
Our first gig of the tour we played the after-party show of a charity event called Art vs.Art. Art vs. Art was held in ballroom next-door. We played with Jake Smith, Pravada, and Richard Edwards. We got see and hang out with all the bands on the bill, all good friends of our from Indianapolis. Getting together with our Indy crew of friends was one of the highlights of the night for me.

The show was not without random moments of comedy. There was an unknown, older man dancing to all our music - even the lighter acoustic songs. He danced alone, gliding around the room with a red face, turtleneck, jeans, and sneakers, as if he was in the clouds. I wanted to bust out laughing while singing, instead I made a comment after a song. “we’d like to thank our dancer,” I said, and the room cheered as he continued dancing thru our the rest of our set.

Radio Radio was a loud and rowdy scene. At times it was hard to hear our ‘intimate’ selves over the chatter in the room as we played. There were times during the set when I thought to myself, “maybe it would be more fun to be the dancer.’

We enjoyed all the other bands and soloists, Pravada were fun, Richard was great as well. I had never seen Jake Smith and was particularly impressed by his one-man-band skills. He introduced himself, ‘I am mysteries of life,’ and indeed he was that night. He played guitar, hi-hat, bass drum, harmonica, and guitar in way that surprisingly did not come off looking sideshow freakish. The songs were great to boot.

All told, Rowdy Radio Radio was a fun night. We gained some new fans, enthusiasts, dancers, and managed not to get too carried away in drunken craziness. I had more fun watching the characters carry on. It’s a little easier to take when you know the people in the room.

VINTAGE FINDS IN INDIANAPOLIS
So, Indianapolis has always been a great area for thrift shopping, but due to a store called Broadripple Vintage and their aggressive buying, it’s difficult to go to places like Value Village and find great vintage dresses for $0.45. There are a few great reasonable stores and antique malls. We both bought some great clothes while scavenging around. I will insert some pictures in the next few days.

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Thu, 25 May 2006 11:42:00 +0000

We have so much to celebrate.......
1. Our WEBSITE IS FINALLY UP!!!!!!!!!! AND WOKING!!!!!!!!
2. Ben and I soon get to go on tour in the midwest and east coast.
3. We are playing a show at Pete's Candy Store Friday, June 2nd at 9:30 with Brent and Margaret (cello and violin). We are also playing with a band we befriended up north called Brent Gorton and the Tender Breasts, certainly with coming early for and our friends the Crevulators are after us and they are worth continuing to drink for!

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE

4. Nina Lee from the Brentano Quartet is also playing with us at Pete's
5. This is our last show of the season in New York.
Come hang out and help us make gas money for the tour!

noreply@blogger.com (KaiserCartel) — Wed, 24 May 2006 17:37:00 +0000

The KaiserCartel Diary will be posted here. Check back soon for updates...