Blog
-
US Tour Summer 2009 – The Downside of Recycling
NB. I’ve had some previously unpublished blogs from the US tour this summer that I’ve decided to release into the wild. They’ll be appearing here over the next couple of days. Hope you enjoy! A few years ago, a pen-friend – or the modern email equivalent – from the US tried to explain how her…
-
US Tour Summer 2009 – Stately Homes of Staten Island
NB. I’ve had some previously unpublished blogs from the US tour this summer that I’ve decided to release into the wild. They’ll be appearing here over the next couple of days. Hope you enjoy! The strange thing about New York for me, is that apart from the relatively new apartments, and slightly older skyscrapers… there…
-
US Tour Summer 2009 – Bay City
I’ve had some previously unpublished blogs from the US tour this summer that I’ve decided to release into the wild. They’ll be appearing here over the next couple of days. Hope you enjoy! The Bay City show is the longest show I play on the tour, and it’s a good work-out. Pete, Katie & Laura…
-
Mapping the US with Tiger & Friends
This is just to give you an idea of the places we’ve been to in June and July. More blogs later on some of our hairier driving moments, etc. [EDIT : I have it arranged in two legs because Googlemaps couldn’t handle the amount of stops we made. Just so you know!] Leg 1 of…
-
Mad Dogs & Baseball Caps
Going on tour with the Guggenheims for two months meant catching one or two of their shows. I was also doing, and sometimes failing, to be guitar tech. The toughest show, by far, that I’ve seen them play was a show in Louisville, Kentucky along the waterfront. The humidity was nearly 100%, the heat was…
-
The Near Death of the Porchboard
More storms. We’re standing under a sky that only Tolkien could have created in the darkest chapter of his life. There’s a 96% chance of rain, which I would have thought was close to 100%, but I stand corrected. The manager of the venue is insisting we should play in the open air… without a…
-
Culinary Lows and Pop References
Starving and miles from anywhere decent we gamble upon a Ponderosa. We lose big. It’s by far the worst food we have on tour, apart from a “salad” late one night in Pittsburgh which comes smothered in fries and “cheese”. Our two culinary lows. Ponderosa turns out to be a really bad buzz too. A…
-
I hear the train a-comin’
After the Bay City show, Anna & Andrew give me a lift back to Ann Arbor to meet the Grotto, who are en route from Lewiston, NY to Ann Arbor, MI, having driven straight after playing their show. They arrive in Ann Arbor at 2.30 in the morning, at which time I’m laid out on…
-
Mon Passeport!
The tour we’re doing involves lots and lots of driving. Mainly because these four Ani di Franco dates are sprinkled in between the dates that we’ve already organised for our tour. Mick and myself share the driving, which in some cases involve distances of 800 miles overnight. Over a period of 7 days, we have…
-
Balti Mór
There’s a little town on the south western coast of Ireland called Baltimore. It has an interesting history, having suffered at the hands of Algerian pirates in the 1600s. Baltimore gave its name to the title “Baron Baltimore”, and in turn, Maryland’s Baltimore is named after one of these Baron Baltimores… soooo, indirectly, Baltimore MD…