The Hold Steady studio diary - Stay Positive - #10
“Stay Positive”, November 29th through February 19th I love mixing. It’s really a lot of fun taking all the sonic info and putting it into the right spaces. It’s fun mixing with The Hold Steady. They all have different viewpoints of the mixing phase of a record and they all complement each other. ... read more
Low vs. Diamond - Tour Diary
I never understood that when you are on tour you really don't get a chance to write new ideas. You are in essence, a traveling salesman. You drive across Uncle Sam all day... Set up your booth ....Eat.....Say Hi....Show the people what you got...drink your whiskey...Drive...Sleep, and then do it again the next day. I've been able to fantasize a few concepts during the drives, that I'll work on at some point, but that is far from actually coming up with anything worth a damn. I'm a Cutco salesman,and that's fine because I like the knives I'm selling! take careLPS... read more
In which Birdmonster rolls through Virginia, plays with precocious teenagers, and ponders the myth and majesty of Bob Barker
When I was in college and even poorer than I am now, I went with a large group of people to The Price Is Right, hoping to secure a car, a vacation, or at least a poorly made gazebo. Before the show, everybody stands in one of those snaking lines like they have at Disneyland, waiting for their chance to interview with the dour gentlemen who choose the contestants for that day's show. Being that I was 19 going on 13, and being that my enthusiasm level was somewhat below the caffeinated cocker-spaniel level required for Price Is Right contestants,... read more
Low vs. Diamond tour diary - 206
I'm on my way home.Back to Seattle tomorrow night! We'll stay at my dad's place, which is always a good time. Vivace cappuccinos...Pagliacci's.....Red Mill... I can't wait. Last night I re-watched Rudy. It's just so good. The music...the story...God damn it, it's an unbelievable movie! "This is the prettiest thing these eyes have ever seen!" I've been trying to get through the first 20 pages of Tender As The Night. We all listened to the Vice-Presidential debates last night. It's sort of like that Kevin Kline movie Dave, only I'm not rooting for Dave. Anyway, I told Annie the only... read more
Low vs. Diamond tour diary - Midwest
Just played Liberty Hall in Lawrence KS. Great town, reminds me of where I went to school. God I love playing these venues. It just so much better when you can actually hear yourself onstage. You never realize how much the food really lacks when your driving cross country. No options...Subway, fast food, Denny's, bla bla bla. I got to have some Thai food in Lawrence, and I savored that flavor. Santi, Monica and Desiree watched the show last night, and of course the right PA went out, but it's ok, it was good. Off to Denver, which is always... read more
Low vs. Diamond tour diary - Cleveland
just getting going here in bed at a hotel in cleveland. Yesterday was beautiful blue-skied windy ohio day. we played some songs for Rock the Vote at Case Western. It was a pocket-sized turnout to say the least. we gotta get em to VOTE VOTE! vote... We played the house of blues here last night and it was great. It was Santi's b-day which always makes a show more fun. We have today off, I don't know what we are going to do yet... maybe I'll get a Browns hat or something. Clevland gets a bad RAP but I like... read more
Birdmonster tour diary - Well, sure. But I still love The Secret of N.I.M.H..
I'm always conflicted before a long tour. While most of me is overjoyed at the prospect of trundling across America with my three closest friends, playing music nightly, and clogging our arteries with all manner of regional grease, there's that other part that hyperventilates over the loose ends and responsibilities I'm leaving behind. Have I saved enough money for rent? Why hasn't my absentee ballot come? Should I get that fungal bloom behind my ear checked out? These are the important issues.And so I began the perfunctory week-before-tour last Friday. Uncharacteristically, I'd made a list of to-do's, a two page... read more
Low vs. Diamond - Tour Diary
Rod Stuart Loves The Hamptons...I'm in tribeca right now in the basement of a house hanging out with some friends. Great paintings hanging around me. We drove in from small gig in Toledo last night. Getting ready to play my brothers "favorite venue" tomorrow night, Irving Plaza w/Santogold. I think this tour should be a pretty good time. All we have to do is start the night off right... It's easy to forget how good a tall can of Coors Light can be! here it goes.-L ... read more
G. Love tour diary - Flying High
Well, I'm flying high, flying home. Wait, I'm not going home yet, I'm going to Chicago, but, I finished my big summer tour. We ended with a bang, too. A sick show at Red Rocks followed by the perfect afternoon at the Blues and Brews fest in Telluride, Co. I woke up the other morning at Red Rocks and I could hear the rain pounding on the bus. What a bummer. But sure enough, the day went on and the skies cleared and by show time the rain was gone. The waxing moon shone full in the skies for a... read more
The Hold Steady studio diary - Stay Positive - #9
“Stay Positive”, November 29th through February 19th [Above: John Agnello and Ben Nichols]One of my favorite things about new technology of recording is the ability to e-mail rough mixes to people and have them contribute to your record. It’s a convenient and fun way of getting other people involved. We had some cool guest stars on the last record and it worked so well, that early on in the recording process, we were thinking towards that end. ... read more
The Hold Steady studio diary - Stay Positive - #8
[Above: John Agnello and Tad Kubler]“Stay Positive”, November 29th through February 19th Yep, things were looking great. After a peaceful four-day weekend with my wife and daughter, I woke up Monday morning and loaded my car with incidental gear and headed to the wilds of Long Island City. I printed directions from Mapquest to make sure I had directions. This is where things turned a bit. After driving in circles for a half hour, I decided to call the studio and try to figure out how Mapquest could do me so wrong. ... read more
Alejandro Escovedo at the Democratic National Convention
DNC BLOGGING Saturday, August 23rd We received a call out of the blue asking if we'd like to play the DNC on Tuesday—the night Hillary Clinton is to speak. The word was that they had fallen in love with the song "People" off of Real Animal, and that it really emphasized the message of the night. Turns out that the talent producer of the event is a fan of my music, and she came across the song and thought it was perfect for the tone of the night. I thought any opportunity to play against the Republicans was a great... read more
G. Love's tour diary - Running To Red Rocks
Wassup y'aaaaalllllllll!... read more
Abigail Washburn tour diary - The Armpit of Capitalism, Hot Cross Buns, Fear-thee-not Meat, The Chinese Reaction, Self-Perception & The Nation State, Fun Olympics: The Review
(PARENTAL DISCRETION ADVISED) In the original plan for the Sparrow Quartet’s "Olympic Tour" of China, we were to play music in Sichuan where the earthquakes hit this past March. I was looking forward to the Sichuan trip because I had lived in Chengdu and care deeply about the people I’ve known there and generally feel close to Sichuanese culture. I thought the tour would help me understand Sichuan since the earthquakes and would give me a chance to offer music to the reconstruction process. No such luck…re-routed to the chockablock factory towns of Dongguan, Guangzhou and Foshan, otherwise known as... read more
G. Love's tour diary - The Autographed Guitar
Hey y'all. Wassup Fam?!? Yesterday we played the sunny slopes of Ft Mason Park in beautiful San Francisco. With the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, it was a majestic day to get our jam on. The gig was an afternoon affair and I headed out to the waterfront for a run before the show. The San Francisco bay was perfect and Alcatraz was even looking inviting out on the island. Seeing Alcatraz (the famous "inescapable prison") reminded me of a good story.... read more
G. Love's tour diary - Back on Track
Well, I've had a bit of a rough couple weeks. I didn't want to say anything public about it but now my mood has changed and I'm gonna spill the beans on myself. Before my tour launched, I was asked by a friend nicknamed Bluefish who was paralyzed (and luckily recovered) to play a benefit for the Christopher Reeves Foundation. The benefit was at a small room in Avalon, NJ called the Rocking Chair. I was able to raise $13,000.00 for the CR Foundation and had a good time as well. However, during the course of that show, I hurt... read more
The Hold Steady studio diary - Stay Positive - #7
It’s always fun watching band members disappear during the overdub phase of a record. There’s nothing like sitting and listening to the same guitar part or vocal line over and over that will send other musical types running for the local bar. With four more days at Water Music and plenty of overdubs to do, we needed to make sure we used the big room to it utmost. That means picking the overdubs more suited for the space we were in.... read more
Abigail Washburn tour diary - The Ambassador, a Famous Opera Singer, Hot Dogs and the Great Hall of the People
Ambassador Randt and his wife have welcomed me into their home four years in a row to play for them and 80 of their closest friends. This time with the Sparrow 3 was no exception. The guests filter in thru the courtyard and into the “venue,” which is the long living room overlooking the courtyard and the dining room with a big impressionist painting of W Jr. and steaming handmade hotdogs waiting for the conclusion of our show to get munched up. ... read more
Abigail Washburn tour diary - Regina to China and Somewhere in the Middle
* Note: "Regina" is pronounced "rah-gina." The town slogan is “Regina rhymes with fun.” We started at 4 a.m. yesterday from the Ramada in Regina, Canada. First layover in Minneapolis for eight hours, then Tokyo, then Beijing. Just arrived in our Beijing digs. Sitting on a high floor of Oakwood Apartments near Beijing’s third ring road at the airport expressway exit. The view out the window is of other newly built residential towers just like this one, and a neon-bannered restaurant of food in the Xiamen style that the receptionists says is “hai keyi” (translation: "it’s ok") with a smirk... read more
G. Love's tour diary - Detroit Soul
We are on the second week of our six-week tear here. Last night found us in Detroit. I was chilling eating my dinner before the show, and what was on TV but 8 Mile. I had to watch it because Eminem is from Detroit, and, in all honestly, the freestyle is inspiration, plus the whole movie is dope. 8 Mile put me in a Detroit state of mind. There was a hell of a lot of good music that came out and is coming out of Detroit. John Lee Hooker, Stevie Wonder and Motown, right? Recently, other peeps like Em,... read more
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