Tour Diary: John Vanderslice
June 19, 2009
Bowery Ballroom, Photo by Elizabeth Weinberg
Words and Photos by: John Vanderslice (except where noted)
We’ve been on a tour for a month, it seems like a year. In a good way. Back in mid-May, we sat in the hundred+ degree heat of Merced and argued the Pat Metheny/Kenny G feud. I sided with Kenny. Seriously, what is the point in attacking Mr. Gorelick?
Photo by Elizabeth Weinberg
Touring is overwhelming and intense: the experiences are so fast and compressed you can barely take it in. In the past 24 hours we saw a Red Panda at the National Zoo, recorded a show in the NPR offices, walked the Natural History Museum, and played a ridiculously good show at the Black Cat. All that imagery scrolling by your window, the heightened personal connections you make, it can’t be fully understood until you get home. And my home life is the polar opposite of my touring life, in bed at 10pm, it’s all stillness and daylight. It’s the difference between playing your bi-amped Telecaster at the Empty Bottle and strumming a parlor guitar in a small wooden room.
Washington Marriott, an architectural marriage between classical Europe and a Scientology welcome center
I’m sitting in the lobby of the Washington Marriott Wardman Park waiting for van call. Over the past year I’ve learned how to game Priceline so we’re killing 4 star hotels this summer. Sometimes we nail a 4-star room for $35 and I feel a small wave of guilt at check-in. That guilt quickly passes. I’ve shared my methods with many bands this tour: The Tallest Man On Earth, Laura Gibson, St Vincent, Telekinesis, Musee Mecanique. If you see me out there feel free to ask me about it.
Van call with Jamie, Sylvain and my mom
I see my mom and brother tonight in Chapel Hill. Our friend Dianna will bring strawberry cupcakes, we’ll see John Darnielle, Jamie Stewart and the Bowerbirds. I’ll have grits and biscuits at my mom’s house in the morning and be on the road by 11am. Seventeen hours in Chapel Hill, overwhelming and intense.
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Monday 11.3.08 – Day 20.
In a rainy pub in Pittsburgh on a Sunday night as the Steelers collapse in the fourth quarter. Everyone is wearing bright yellow and black jerseys, the waitress has a Steelers hat on. The darkness and the cold drizzle outside are smearing their fingers on the windows behind us, seeping into everything, even the beer and bacon cheeseburgers. [More...]
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Michael Zapruder – “Ads for Feelings”
Tuesday 10.28.08 – Day 14.
We just stuffed our faces at Nick’s Diner, where they make an 8-egg omelette and a BLT with a pound of bacon on it. I had a turkey reuben, just to make the healthy choice, keep it Californian and all that. America eats some serious food.
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Tuesday 10.14.08 – Day one.
We’re moving down California’s spine, down the 5 to Bakersfield. We’ll be away for weeks.
Bakersfield is big music town, but will they dig our peculiar brand of negative capability? One of the coolest things about this is landing somewhere and seeing how your music plays to strangers. It’s very liberating. [More...]
