But on the news front, “Into the Quiet” keeps chugging along, with Portland, Maine’s WMPG as the newest station to add it (thanks!). That’s two Maine stations now…I think I need to visit! And while summer laziness is tempting, I feel like I’m moving at full-speed, putting together tours for this fall throughout the Midwest, Northeast, Texas, Northwest, and right here in Southern CA. The one stop that I have cemented is Grand Rapids, Michigan, where I lived for a while and always loved/love to play. I’ll be there in October for sure, and more details on where and when exactly will be coming your way soon!

All photos by the clearly very talented David McGowan!

Thanks again to the event organizer Kristin Salerno for having us there, doing such a fab job promoting the event…and sending us these pics. Speaking of Kristin, here she is:

The lovely, ethereal voice of Lux Land played before us: 

And then…
it was time for Mike and I to take the stage:

Not sure why I’m looking so sheepish. Probably because I was being introduced and Kristin was saying nice things about me…

Fancy lamps, eh? The stage was designed by Meg Sorenson of Design Quest. There was also a sweet red couch whose back folded down to become a sort of bed. Super cool; I think Mike wanted it.

So, something was funny, I guess…

Chick rock ‘n roll, baby…

Anyway, I had lots of enthusiasm about blogging, but now that I’m actually doing it I find I have no idea what to say. Performing does kind of take it out of you. But I can say that tonight was the Progressive Women’s Alliance fundraiser. It was held at one of my favorite Grand Rapids restaurants, so the tapas was good, the wine was flowing, and the music was great. Claudia Schmidt followed by Rachael Davis followed by Lux Land – all were incredible in their own right (and between them kicked ass on many different instruments. YEAH to women who can really PLAY their guitars! I’m still working on it. I’ll rip a solo one of these days). It was quite humbling to be a part of it, and inspiring to be sharing the stage with women who are really doing what I want to do – that is, making a living making music, their own music, their way.

Ah, there, that wasn’t so bad. Kind of like writing papers in college when you just can’t figure out how to tackle what you want to say and then you just force yourself to start and a bunch of stuff comes out…well, maybe it’s just me.
:)

TOMORROW: Columbus – to see some family and then to play a show at the Rumba Cafe. I hope that if you’re in the area you’ll come on out! Then on Friday we get a nice leisurely day before heading off to the homeland, aka Cleveland. I think/hope there will be much sleeping involved in that day.

‘Til next time – Friday I imagine – and hopefully by then I’ll have some photos from the PWA event to post as a little retrospective! I guess once we got to good ol’ familiar Grand Rapids, our need to constantly snap photos out of the car window lessened. More soon.

This is the part where the shows get a little heavier – well, only for a few days – but it is definitely starting to feel like a bona fide tour. After radio appearance comes soundcheck, then comes the show, then comes trying to get to sleep so we can wake up and get to Columbus the next afternoon and get read for the next show. Whew. We do get Friday off, though, and after that, it’s off to Cleveland…

The Cleve! (anyone see that 30Rock episode? Anyway…) I was actually born in Cleveland, so it has a special place in my heart. Columbus, too, because I have family there. My parents are even coming up for the shows, so it’s going to be a great few days reuniting with family and friends. I think Mike and I may even hit up the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame the Sunday after our show…we must! If we do make it, I promise some photos. Either way we’ll have some new photos soon.

Must sleep!

Happily, I was asked last-minute to come in to do an in-studio appearance on WYCE- GR’s community radio station and one of my very favorites- and the GR Press wrote a little blurb about the show in the calendar, so that was all pretty exciting. And then, perhaps because of the coverage, or for whatever reason, the show was absolutely packed! People couldn’t even find seats at one point…and everyone was very attentive.

All in all, it was more than I could have asked for – I really sincerely thank everyone who came out, and I hope that those show did enjoyed it as much as we did! Here’s hoping for many more like that one… :)