I keep wanting to wait until I have some BIG NEWS to write new blogs, but some weeks are just slower than others. And now, it’s officially summer, and everything moves a little slowly anyhow this time of year. So why wait? I also hope to re-open the chattier, actually “bloggier” section of my blog soon rather than simply posting news updates.
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!
Tags: grand rapids, Into the Quiet, kristy hanson, tour, WMPG
I’m sweating it out here in LA and looking forward to our trip to the (let’s hope milder) Northwest at the end of July. It’ll be a quick trip, with a few shows in the Seattle and Portland areas and possibly a stop in San Francisco on the way down. It’ll actually be my first time in Portland, and I’ve heard such wonderful things about the audiences up there, so I’m really looking forward to it. As always, check the shows section for details. We’ll be finishing up the long-awaited music video this month and our fab designer Erin is working on a t-shirt design that will rock your socks off, so this summer is turning out to be pretty darn productive! Who needs the beach…(ok, well, I’ve been going to the beach, too).
Tags: portland, san francisco, seattle, tour
I’m back in LA and getting ready to play the very exciting new Sundays on Sunset series at hip club Libertine June 8th. The tour was absolutely fantastic and I had the time of my life! We played some beautiful venues as well as some great radio shows, made lots of friends, and got some press! For just a taste, here’s one of the articles about the tour, from the blog Instrumental Analysis. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: instrumental analysis, libertine, sundays on sunset, tour
Well, I really fell off the blog wagon during the last week of the tour, so let me see if I can re-cap a little bit.
Thursday, May 8 we played at Tusca Cafe in Pittsburgh’s trendy South Side Works. We’d actually been there earlier in the week to go to the Cheesecake Factory for, well, cheesecake, and my poor friend was served a frozen piece of cheesecake that I can only describe as a cheesecakesicle. But I digress. Tusca seemed very swanky and upscale, and I enjoyed listening to Heather Kropf and Brad Yoder’s smooth piano/sax stylings and then the nice smoky vocals of Sonji. The only bummer of the night was that the place kind of cleared out right around the time I started playing. Apparently Pittsburgh is not one of those places the parties late – at least not on a Thursday night! But it was worth it to be a part of a great event, and it was nice to get my feet wet in a new place. There seems to be a great scene there. We had a great time in Pittsburgh generally; we went to the Andy Warhol museum and enjoyed the budding spring for a few days. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: andy warhol museum, ann arbor, crazy wisdom, pittsburgh, tour, tusca cafe
Sunday night we played in DC at The Red and The Black, a very hip little place. The decor is funky and it was one of those clubs that seems all the cooler because it’s small, and the place filled up nicely. Stella Schindler played first with her lovely voice, sweet presence, and folk-country stylings (complemented well by her boots – shall I call them ‘cowgirl’ boots? Wish I could pull those off!). Her fans were incredibly gracious and stuck around for the whole evening, even on a school night when the music didn’t even start ’til 9:30. They listened attentively as we played after Stella, and then stayed for Mara Levi’s band, Thomasina and the Jam. They rocked out with supertight harmonies and killer playing…I should say that their fans rocked, too, because they came early and took in the whole thing. When I put the show together I had this vision of women working together to put together a great show and it absolutely was that and more. What a great spirit of collaboration and support in that room! Fabulous. I really really cannot thank Mara and Stella enough. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: club cafe, dc, NPR, pittsburgh, the red and the black, tour, washington
Tuesday, 4/29 – Burlington, VT
In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that this was a weird one. Burlington is an adorable city and things are beautiful this time of year (though cold. There were snow flurries while we were there, whoa!). And the venue was cute. But we had to do our own sound for the first time on the trip, which basically means Mike did it, and it was no big deal but I always feel bad when he has to worry about the PA and his own bass playing at the same time. The crowd was very reserved, very quiet, which made me wonder if they were digging it at all, and I kind of assumed they weren’t that into it. But when I played my last song, people were like, ‘no, play some more…’ Go figure. So I guess they liked it well enough after all… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: baltimore, burlington, colony cafe, jessie baylin, maryland, new york, newton faulkner, read street books, tim young, tour, vermont, willy porter, woodstock
Mike’s aunt (in New Jersey) fed us entirely too much.
Yay for friends in NYC – Regan and I smile pretty in Union Square.
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Tags: 88.7, baltimore, cambridge, colony cafe, hofstra, met, new york, nyc, radio, read street books, tour, willy porter, woodstock, WRHU
Here are a couple more, as promised, from James Crafford.
The first couple were kind of impromptu, before the show, and the last is a ‘live’ shot.
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Tags: boston, burlington, new york, nyc, rockwood music hall, tour, vermont, WOMM-LP 105.9
Last night was the Boston show at Kennedy’s Midtown, which all in all went pretty well. We had a small but enthusiastic turnout, and Mike and I definitely had fun playing. Kennedy’s is situated right in the center of Boston in the middle of lots of historical sites and a beautiful park that’s right near a church where our friends were married a couple summers back. When we got there, they were setting up a drumset and there were a bunch of kids – well, not kids, college students I guess there, part of a band who’d be playing later called PolySky. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: boston, kennedy's midtown, tour
I was extra hyped up about this NYC show, I think, and admittedly a bit nervous, because 6 pm is such an early time to play (no such thing as a 6 pm show in LA!) that I wasn’t sure anyone would make it. Rockwood Music Hall is known to be a very hip venue these days, and I always find hip intimidating. But Ken was very welcoming and the space itself is really lovely and warm(figuratively – though it’s always warm onstage!). It’s tiny and a really charming mix of brick, wood and windows, there’s great sound (again – go Ken), and a stage takes up a chunk of the room, with tables oriented towards it in a clear emphasis of what the room is about – music. Some of the tables are so close to the stage you can, as the performer, set your glass of water on the table and just reach down and grab it when you need. All of that seems to encourage people to be very, very quiet. This is definitely the first true ‘listening room’ that we’ve played on the trip, and it was jarring at first to have people indeed really listening to all your lyrics. But then, of course, that’s exactly what a songwriter really wants! It was great. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: brews 'n bytes, danville, new york, nyc, pennsylvania, rockwood music hall, tour