NEW TOUR DATE IN KANSAS CITY
The Posies have added another show--Oct. 12 at...now, how does this kind of thing happen...a club called the Hurricane...in Kansas City MO. More dates still coming...and now, the reviews:
TUCSON 9/11
Welcome to the sleepy part of the USA. Best countryside to drive thru, AZ ans NM. The fact I couldn't find a NY Times anywhere didn't matter as I just looked out the window and marvelled at the scenery.
Tucson show was a fine rock event, not a ton of folks, but everyone there was...cool. Dare I say, *sexy*, even. Weird. You don't expect that outside of New York and Monte Carlo. The folks from KAMP radio at the Univ. were outstanding and our host/interviewer there was asking questions about White Flag, that's a complete-ist for you!
ALBUQUERQUE 9/12
Got to town with enough spare time to eat, do banking and Fed Ex-ing, check email...it took a few days for us to get into the groove and figure out how to trick ourselves into leaving with enough time to actually get where we're going!
Another sparsely attended event...HOWEVER, there were two amazing and lovely sisters...one studying math & dance (imagine the possibilites!) and the other a poet...tearing up the floor, major props! People enjoyed themselves no doubt. A few ex-Seattleites in the house. A friend of a friend, Seth, took us into his house afterwards for a place to crash--I opened a $100 bottle of dessert wine...a Chambers Rosewood Rare Muscat (100 pts from Robert Parker) and, shared it (a little, anyway!)
DALLAS 9/14
We didn't leave ABQ in a hurry...we had a day to get to Dallas (although that's about what it takes). We had lunch at a fantastic little place on Harvard off of Central, so near the campus...green chile enchiladas, yeh...and spent all day in the van. I watched the scenery again...until we got into Texas, when everything really flattens out...it's kind of an anti-landscape at that point. But in Texas that night we witnessed a massive t-storm, that we never actually collided with but it was happening in every direction around us, always about 10 miles off from whereever we were. I watched Hal Hartley's excellent film 'the Book of Life' which imagines in fantasticly novel way Jesus returning to make the last judgement...PJ Harvey at his side...yeh, not showing alongside the Mel Gibson movie any time soon. Thomas Jay Ryan is OUTSTANDING as Satan. Pulled into Dallas late and night, and we had been given the keys to two of the guys in Deathray Davies' apartments...so we had nice homes to stay in, all to ourselves...that way, the next day, we could sleep in, take our time getting down to the gig.
And the gig--bets merch night of the tour, which means lots of great hardcore fans! We got our rock on, and had a great time. The promoter had to pay us in part in $1 dollar bills! Nightmare!
We also had a fantastic instore performance at Good Records...those folks are absolutely the coolest...they turned me on to a new band whose record they are releasing on the Good Records imprint, called Pilotdrift. Unbelieveable...
AUSTIN 9/15
Well, sometimes, no one shows up. Hmmm. Where was everybody? We blasted a ton of rock & roll energy at the folks who did come... hey...not to focus on the negative...but...where the hell *was* everybody?
Great accomodations at Matt's dad's house...what super folks he has. We had a big ol' barbecue dinner at their place on the night off (when our Houston show would have been). Thanks Zeke & Sally! You are both amazing!!!
Also on the night off I zipped down to see Earlimart and Son Volt at Stubbs BBQ (where 3/4 of the Posies dined on show night). Met friends (Holly, Susan, Brenda--thank you all!!!). There were interactions with many local friends, a friendly chat with the Wallflowers...fine times indeed.
BATON ROUGE 9/17
We really didn't know what to expect rolling into town. What we enountered was a town that seemed almost empty--which is absolutely bizarre considering the population has more than doubled with the arrival of evacuees. Almost no traffic on the street, nobody walking around. LSU was totally tumbleweed city (but, Peyton J. was kind enough to have us on his show at KLSU). Evidently our show was one of the first, if not the first appearance by a touring band in town. Our appearance was at least some kind of relief for our dear friends Heidi and Laura--we were glad to see them--sad that it wasn't in NOLA where it would have been--and they were glad to see us (at least they said they were!!). Folks started to trickle in, as the first band, Knoxville's excellent Dixie Dirt, started to play.
By the time we went on there was a modest but lively crowd...'That Don't Fly' was performed...and 'Precious Moments' in our acoustic encore...both songs shocked me with how many words seemed resonant, painful and sorrowfully in tune with the feeling of that place, that time.
MEMPHIS 9/18
No places to stay in Baton Rouge...or anywhere within 200 miles of there, so we hauled it overnight-style to Memphis, rolled into town at about noon (we stopped somewhere and slept in the van--props to Joe Norcio for taking it to the limit at the wheel, tho' and getting us to town safely. Checked into our hotel, got cleaned up...and suddenly we didn't seem so tired.
Tonight's show was, I think, the best we've played since Tucson....the sound onstage was great, we felt unified and tight and on the right wavelength...always a pleasure to see Jody Stephens. Great set from Brad P. who I know from the band Snowglobe....all in all, a very satisfying night.
Cut posting a *little* short as it's bed time and we're wheels up at 7...
Love
KS
Memphis TN
