Pigeon John - 3/7/08 - MG and The Land of Pirates
We were pulling into Riverside when my phone began to ring. I knew who it was and what that call pertained to. I have an evil twin brother named MG The Visionary. You do not want to meet him. We cannot tour together. If we did, I’d be Axl and he’d be Slash and my Northridge home would be on some table in some casino in some state. I waited while my Sidekick rang. After three calls and six texts, I answered. “Dude, due to technical difficulties, you have to let me go on right before you, bro.” I paused.... read more
Josh Ritter - 11/5/07 - Western Realms
“To come down to my own experience, my companion and I, for sometimes I have a companion, take pleasure in fancying ourselves knights of a new, or rather an old, order, - not Equestrians or Chevaliers, not Ritters or Riders, a still more ancient and honorable class, I trust.” - Henry David Thoreau, “On Walking” It’s 9 p.m., and I’m sitting in a hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. It’s a Tuesday, but the streets are filled with a mix of dudes-on-business and senior citizens. The drive last night from Portland was really long, and, according to Don Spitler,... read more
Josh Ritter - 11/2/07 - Little Blog of Horrors
Mustachio Nut (aka Salvador Rollie) I’ve known Zack for 10 years and have been acquainted with his ring-leader side for almost as long. If there is a scheme to be announced, carried out and dressed in costume for, Zack is in the vanguard with a bull horn. I know for a fact that he was this way before the mustache but I can say that since the mustache has fully taken hold it has become more and more difficult to determine quite where Zack’s personality ends and the mustache’s begins. So, for your reading and (depending on your proclivities) viewing... read more
Josh Ritter – Backstage Recordings, Vol. I
I’m not a gadget type of guy. I’m rarely allowed to drive, have an alarm on my watch that I’ve owned for three years and can’t figure out how to turn off, and have occasional struggles with things like light switches, elevator buttons and elevators. So, when it comes to recording songs on the fly I like to keep things decidedly one-button simple. What follows are a couple recordings done backstage by myself or with friends from the tour. They’re rough, but it’s a lot of fun. Jess Harper is the lead singer of Old School Freight Train and, like... read more
Josh Ritter - 10/18/07 - Nebraska Rock and Roll
It’s nine thirty in the morning and we are zooming through Nebraska after an all-night ride from Minneapolis. The ground here is so flat that it’s hard to tell whether the standing water that we pass on either side is river, creek or lake. Old bales of hay seem to have been left to melt in rolls in the fields, and much of the ground is still green. We’ve been passing old Pony Express stations and countless naked cottonwood trees, and oak trees with branches are the color of bone. Don Spitler, our bus driver, is trying to get us... read more
Josh Ritter - 10/9/07 - 5 Days on 95
I’m sitting in a hotel room in Annapolis, Maryland and catching my breath. I’ve got Dawn Landes’ record Fireproof on, and I’m sitting on the bed with various cameras, iPods and mics around me. It looks like I’ve come back from a circuit safari. The first five days have been fairly strenuous and very exciting. It’s Zack, Sam, Austin, Liam and I, accompanied by tour manager Tim and our guitar/merch man, Brian. Don Spitler is our bus driver, and the bus, as yet unnamed, brings the total traveling party to nine. Also along for the trip is “Bone Shaker,”... read more
Josh Ritter - 10/9/07 - Backstage Graffiti Vol. I - Pearl Street
A Scrawled Note on Graffiti I’m sitting backstage at Pearl Street in Northampton, Massachusetts and thinking that along with my normal entries I’d like to send in some of my favorite pieces of backstage graffiti from the places we visit on this tour. Pearl Street, which no one could accuse of being anything other than a rock room, has a great collection and while not the Sistine Chapel of backstage graffiti, it probably comes close to an Uffizi. Now, we live in a multimedia, terabyte, full throttle digital world, where the real and the concrete don’t always mean the same... read more
Josh Rouse - 9/22/07 - Bellingham, WA
Again, somehow we bypassed Seattle completely and have landed in the “college” town of Bellingham, Wash. It’s about 60 miles from the Canadian border. The only problem with playing here was that it seemed classes hadn’t even started yet! The club, Nightlife, was really nice. I think as a band, we’ve been getting swankier every night and this was a place where we could “dig in” a bit. Well, “dig in” we did for 75 disco dancing fans!!! So far it’s been an uphill battle as far as attendance is concerned but things tell me from Vancouver on we will... read more
Josh Rouse - 9/20-9/21/07 - Boise, Oregon, almost Seattle
Sept. 20 - Day off in Boise, Idaho. We drove through beautiful Oregon. Watched a documentary on song poems called Off the Carts. I highly recommend it. Attempted to eat at an Outback Steakhouse, but there was a 45 minute wait. Woke up in Bothell, Washington right next to an Outback Steakhouse. It’s like it’s playing with us. Sept. 21- For some reason, I thought this was Seattle. We were actually 40 min. north playing in a brand new performing arts theater next to a high school. This was their first concert of the season and the staff was nice... read more
Josh Rouse - 9/19/07 - Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City has its own set of rules. Beautiful day and the shower in the bus works! We were informed that due to noise restrictions we couldn’t soundcheck until 8 p.m. This wasn’t good. It was suggested by the guy handling tonight’s show that if we weren’t happy with the late start, we could go open for Guster who was playing a mile away. Joe Pisapia (CMCH mixer and player, and Marc’s brother) plays with Guster. We said we’d be up for it but finally it came down to the promoter raising a stink about not selling booze. So... read more
Josh Ritter - 10/1/07 - An Introduction
Hey Everyone! It’s 10 p.m., we’re ensconced in a hotel in Medford, Massachusetts and we’ve just gotten back from kicking these songs around a final time before we head out on the road tomorrow, and the Rittorical conquests begin. I’ve got Alfred Deller on and he’s singing a beautiful song called “Peg-a-Ramsay.” The guy’s voice could break your heart. Right now it’s about as quiet as it’s going to be for the next five weeks and I am fast falling asleep. I first toured around the country in 2003 when my album, Hello Starling, was released. My band and I... read more
Josh Rouse - 9/17-18/07 - Kansas City and Denver
9/17/07 - After spending a few hours attempting to load the big blue Prevost bus Sunday night, we realized we’d have to sacrifice a few things. The thing is, we have a shower on the bus and it takes up all our room in the “equipment” area under the bus. Carl, the bus driver from Nashville, drove all night to Kansas City. We were happy because everything thing seemed to be working as far as the cable and internet access. I can remember when I started touring in ‘98, I didn’t even have a cell phone. We woke up... read more
Rocky Votolato - 7/5/07 - Seattle 3.0
So I’m back at home now. When we were booking these dates we decided to take the week of the 4th off. I got to blow some shit up yesterday with my son. :) Although, at one point we found ourselves running for cover behind a giant swimming pool from a sea of rockets gone crazy. Never light three rockets at the same time on an uneven surface because sometimes they fall over and come shooting right at you. We came out unscathed and ready to spend the rest of the evening inside with the dogs. The show in NYC... read more
Rocky Votolato - 6/27/07 - Boston
Hello Again, I’ve never sweated this much at a show in my entire life. Played Boston tonight during a heat wave and the AC went out at Harper’s Ferry where we were playing. Had a good time but nearly died of heat exhaustion. This is a picture of us right before we went on - you can already see the sweat dripping. We’ve got “The Owl” with us too, so the team is complete. Crashing at his place in Road Island tonight. Flying everyone out here to the east coast was kind of a pain in the ass, but after... read more
Rocky Votolato - 6/23/07 - Seattle 2.0
Hello again, So the week in Seattle was amazing. The CD release show at the Triple Door went as well as I could have hoped for and I’m really grateful to everyone who came out! We had a great time playing on 107.7 The End and at the Easy Street in-store on Friday as well. Definitely the best in-store experience I’ve ever had. I got up at 4:30 a.m. this morning to take the dudes to the airport. They are all flying out to our roadie’s house (Mark Gallant a.k.a “The Owl"), in Providence, RI today. If you see him... read more
Rocky Votolato - 6/20/07 - Seattle
Howdy, I’ve never done this kind of thing before. Feels pretty strange, but here we go. So my record, The Brag & Cuss, came out yesterday, and I’ve been getting ready for this string of shows for a while. The boys flew in four days ago and we’ve been practicing our asses off since then. My entire band is from Denver. Dave Barker is playing drums for me now full time. He’s the one with the “Kentucky Waterfall,” or for those of you who don’t call it that, a badass mullet. Spacey Casey is playing pedal steel and B-Bender Tele... read more
Rosie Thomas - 4/25/07 - On the road home…
We recently asked Rosie Thomas to send us dispatches from her latest batch of tour dates. She ended up being too busy having fun with her pals Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stevens (also on the tour), but she managed to get another one of her friends, comedic mastermind, Sheila Saputo, to send us some words and photos. This is her final dispatch. April 25, 2007 - On the road home… Dear Delores, Long drive back home. Getting tour blues already and it’s only been a day. Miss Denny so much. Cried like a baby when we dropped him off at... read more
Rosie Thomas - 4/24/07 - San Francisco
We recently asked Rosie Thomas to send us dispatches from her latest batch of tour dates. She ended up being too busy having fun with her pals Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stevens (also on the tour), but she managed to get another one of her friends, comedic mastermind, Sheila Saputo, to send us some words and photos. April 24, 2007 - San Francisco, Calif. Dear Delores, I hung out in the Haight district all day today playing my Djemba drum and calling everyone papa bear and brother bear. I ate a brownie some kid gave me on the street, it... read more
Rosie Thomas - 4/23/07 - Los Angeles
We recently asked Rosie Thomas to send us dispatches from her latest batch of tour dates. She ended up being too busy having fun with her pals Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stevens (also on the tour), but she managed to get another one of her friends, comedic mastermind, Sheila Saputo, to send us some words and photos. April 23, 2007 - Los Angeles, Calif. Dear Delores, Sorry my journal entries are behind a bit, but I have very little Internet access on the road. (What happens on the road stays on the road, I know!) I love it here in... read more
Rosie Thomas - 4/15/07 - Chicago
We recently asked Rosie Thomas to send us dispatches from her latest batch of tour dates. She ended up being too busy having fun with her pals Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stevens (also on the tour), but she managed to get another one of her friends, comedic mastermind, Sheila Saputo, to send us some words and photos. April 15, 2007 - Chicago, Ill. Dear De De, Shy town? I don’t think so! People are so brave here! Ate two Chicago hot dogs (the works!) and nearly peed my pants, from the back. Show was incredible tonight. I was so nervous... read more
The 50 Best Movies on Netflix Instant
The 25 Best Movies of 2012 (So…
The 50 Best Movies of 2011
The 30 Best TV Shows on Netflix…
The 50 Best Movies of the Decade…
