2009 Recapment Part 1

So to start, I did the lamest thing ever and put in each trip I took for musical purposes this year on Google maps and then added up everything...this includes mileage from my place of residence to the gig(s) and back. This is mostly touring with Susan, but some on my own, and I didn't always go with Susan on her tours, so she's logged a ridiculous amount more. She's a road dawg like that. Anyway, my grand total of miles traveled (car and plane) is...drum roll please... 29,803 That's a lot. It's as accurate as it can be...sometimes we took alternate routes or drove around a lot once we were in the gig town and I don't keep track of that stuff, but in general - from point A to point Z...29k miles. The most miles in one month goes to October for about 6700 miles, when we flew to New York and back and then drove to Nashville. The least was February, when I didn't leave Texas and went about 600 miles from home. It's been a super fun year...I plan to ponder some of it more in blog form in the next couple of weeks. But after looking at that 29,803 number for a bit, all I really want to do now is take a nap. Hm.

Winter Wonder- oh, it melted.

Greetings from rainy Austin. We spent the weekend in snowy Houston and wet Fort Worth. There was a precipitation theme throughout. When we left Wimberley on Friday it was snowing a little and pretty. As we neared Houston it got sunny, but it was still pretty cold. Since our gig was kinda outdoors, we thought we'd stop at a CVS and get some of those handwarmer things. Except CVS stores in Houston doesn't seem to sell them, because IT NEVER GETS BELOW 80 DEGREES IN HOUSTON. Makes sense. So we went to Autozone. Surely when you are stranded along the side of a Houston road in 80-degree weather you would need a...oh, no luck there either. So then we went to Academy Sports, to the hunting section, where I saw way too much camoflauge for my taste and were told they were out. Because of COURSE when it actually is going to be 26 degrees in Houston, people run out and buy that stuff. Luckily we found some in the shoe section. Toe warmers, not hand warmers. They saved the day, and they don't just have to stick on your toes. I stole this photo from Susan because apparently I DIDN'T TAKE ANY. Dang. (c) suSANG! 2009. This was all that was left the next morning when we walked around a park in downtown Houston. That snowman's got impressive core freezing technology, or something. Then there was a show in Fort Worth and I played a little and truly enjoyed playing my tunes, which is always nice because I'm about to put them on a record so I'll be kinda stuck with them. Very excited for next week when we do the last bit of tracking on EP 2...it's getting closer! Now I'm gonna go find a furnace vent because I'm out of toe warmers.

Panhandle Hauntings

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! I like it because I think it's one of the least commercialized holidays, in that you can only up-sell someone so much on a cornucopia. I had a great time in Amarillo, hanging out at the Nat Ballroom for a live taping that will be part of the new Root 66 series...it is a TV show brainstormed by a collective of very talented Albuquerque filmmakers, musicians, and such. They asked Susan to film an episode, and no better place than in her hometown. When we rolled into the venue I knew my friend Matt Jones, a great singer-songwriter also from the ABQ area code, would be there. What I didn't know is that my buddy Josh was riding along with Matt. Josh and I used to be intern together at PBS in Albuquerque...and NEITHER of us knew that our former boss at KNME, Tony, was part of the crew that day. So it was a very impromptu and fun reunion. Tony even interviewed Susan, weird collision of worlds. Former boss interviews current boss. The show was awesome, all of the artists including Matt and Susan and Jenn Grinels and Rodney Branigan did great. Afterwards, they wanted to film some intro footage in the boiler room in the basement of the ballroom...which is a terribly old building (I mean, it has a BOILER ROOM for crying out loud), and this basement was the spookiest place I have ever been in. Apparently there are ghosts in this place as it used to be a gambling hall and a swimming pool at various times in its life, among other things. The floor was dirt and had rusted metal things laying around, there were cobwebs all over and nails poking through the ceiling from the floorboards above us. You would never catch me down there alone. SSSSHHHHH!!!! Luckily, we were there with about 10 people and a floodlight for the camera, so I felt pretty safe from the ghosties. Susan filmed a hysterical intro reminiscent of Scooby Doo or the like. Then we hightailed it upstairs again, to not disturb the spirits. You never know what you'll run into with this crazy job.

We all get fortunate sometimes.

I had a good weekend. It was busy, with non-stop events and gigs, including the 13th Annual Austin Empty Bowl Project. This is a neat charity because all year long, people make bowls and decorate them...close to 4,000 of them, actually. Then local restaurants and chefs donate their time to make soup, and then thousands of people come buy a bowl and get to try good soup, and all the proceeds go to charity. Brilliant! Susan played at the swanky preview party this weekend, whereupon I wormed my way in and partook in the hors d'oeuvres that included ingredients like dates, endives, and eggplant. Thems fancy food words. The next morning Jim and I woke up the soup eaters with our folk and roll act on the plaza at the Mexican American Cultural Center. I had a sweet potato dumpling soup. Awesome. Then, during my errands for the day, I FOUND A HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL ON THE SIDEWALK. I am pretty sure the best thing I have ever found previous to this day was maybe 2 bucks floating in a gas station parking lot, and it was my friend's who had just gotten out of the car. A consultation with Jim reassured me...it's cash, and I was in a big parking lot, and there's no way to track down anyone who might have been its owner. Crazy. I feel safe telling you all this because I already spent my half at Hastings. (Jim gets the other half because I can never pay him for gigs, but I found it on a gig day, so he gets paid). So anyway, look up most of the time but sometimes, LOOK DOWN. Later that day was benefit number 2 for Susan that weekend, at the Brauntex Theater in New Braunfels. It's a great old movie theater that is being repurposed for live shows (as well as film). Good times. There are neat little jewels all over the place...stop in a small town and find one.

In Search Of...JFK

Yes, another video. This weekend I took a day and visited the Sixth Floor Museum at the Kennedy assassination site in Dallas. Since my degree is in Modern American History, I was quite thrilled to see it.

In Search Of: The Luckenbach Chicken

I used to watch "In Search Of..." all the time...it was one some cable channel when I was a kid. They were usually hunting Bigfoot or aliens or something. I was looking for something far more sinister in Luckenbach, Texas.

Who Made Texas So Pretty?

We had the most beautiful drive to San Angelo today...

House Concerts = Joy

Thanks to Raymond for this photo! All right, back in town after a weekend of house concerts. Very different settings, both very cool. The first was outside under a covered patio outside of Tyler, and there was a veritable farm on donkeys around us. Dub tried to take on a donkey and then it made a donkey noise and he ran back to hide behind us. Wimp. Dog vs. Donkey Then in my usual fit of loading everything up, I left my backpack full of clothes in Tyler. Sigh. Better my stuff than someone else's, I suppose. They're nice enough to ship it to me. Yay. :) Lesson: HAVE A SYSTEM AND KEEP IT. The next night was a house concert in Denton. It was a packed living room and Susan was her usual brilliant funny self, I played some, we played together at the end of the night, and it dissolved into us singing Flight of the Conchords songs. That's probably a sign the house concert is over, haha. The neat thing about those shows is that no two are ever alike because the audience can participate and the whole room gets a personality of its own. Yesterday we drove back from Denton and had, as Susan called them, "yawn-versations" all the way. Not even a rousing game of that peg-jumping triangle thing they have on the table at Cracker Barrel could energize us. We aren't very good at that game anyway. Dub after donkey wrangling. (I stole these photos from Amy. Thanks, Amy and Amy's iPhone!)

A Big Day!

Someone buy me a corsage or something. :)

Wake up wake up we are fortunate

My old apartment is empty and locked. That's my alarm clock in the middle of the room because for some reason I am a horrible packer and it sat out a long time. Katie helped me clean and move the last things out. I don't know how I got a friend like her but you can't have her. I don't wish moving from a third floor on my worst enemy. I think I went up and down stairs 100 times this week. Having friends help made it so much better. That being said my grumpiness is over and I am excited for my two new living spaces and the opportunities it will afford. And next time I'm going to own less crap.

At the Crossroads Again

We're driving back from Winnsboro, TX...Crossroads Music Company is a great venue about an hour and a half east of Dallas. It's run by my good friends Lynn Adler and Lindy Hearne, and the lovely and talented Kate Hearne. It's a wonderful listening room and one of my favorite venues ever. There was a full circle moment for me because last July I opened for Susan at Crossroads (re-live that thanks to the glorious blog archive) and it was my first weekend as being a merch girl. I was kind of along for the ride as far as being useful goes, and it was fun and a great weekend. But here we are almost a year later and I am now The Merch Girl, Tour Monkey, and whatever else you wanna call it. We went back to Winnsboro with much excitement, and I got to play with Marian and Kate (who is a killer guitar player). Susan then rocked the stage with Marian (she works all the time) with a great show that sucked the crowd in from the get go. At the end Susan had me and Kate up to play the song that Susan and I wrote together called "Still Lovely When You Cry." Then Lynn joined us for "Wide Open Spaces"...Kate called it an estrogen fest and then Susan deemed it "Festrogen." That might not sell well on t-shirts. Me, Kate, Marian, and Susan Festrogen? So there we go. So fun to return to the beginnings of merch girldom as well as hang out with such good people. There's more to this weekend story but that's another blog post... Photos by Lindy Hearne! Yay Lindy!

Quirk on the Road

It seemed that everywhere we went yesterday brought us interesting interactions. I opened for Susan and Dana Cooper at Opening Bell in Dallas last night (FUN FUN show), but we started the day in Houston. Breakfast was at Taco Cabana, where a man was holding up the line because his receipt was wrong. He was threatening to call a branch manager and report the staff, all the while our glee at walking in before noon so we could score breakfast (11:56 AM) withered away while he ranted. Now, I don't know much about tacos but I do know this place has a menu of things that cost $1.50, so could his receipt really have been that big of a deal? Weird start to the day. We stopped for diesel somewhere in north Houston and a car full of...I believe Buddhist monks (wearing the orange garments, anyway), were getting gas. I was dog-watching, but Susan and our friend Amy who was along for the trip said that all four of the monks in the store bought lotto tickets. They couldn't decide if they should have followed suit because the karma would have been good or the opposite. We drove up 45 to Dallas and decided to stop at the ginormous Sam Houston statue in Huntsville to walk around. Such a neat little spot right off the road, with a giant likeness of Sam himself. The dogs probably enjoyed the big field the most, but we loved the wildflowers that are popping up in reds, yellows, pinks, whites, and the ever-present bluebonnets. The Opening Bell show was super fun and the room was great and the company greater... And then Susan and I had to head back to Austin afterwards because I have a Red Leaf showcase this afternoon. We thought a night drive would be better than sleeping a little and waking up and driving to make it back. So there I am in downtown Dallas, tapping on the convenience store window because they lock up at night even though they are open. The guy behind the counter asks what I want...and since I can't browse the aisles, I ask if he has Red Bull. He goes over to the fridge case and grabs 3 sizes and displays them in the window for me. I point decidedly at the mediums and pantomime "FIVE" at him (long drive...caffeine for two). At this point he walks around to the front of the store and opens it up and says, "Nice girls get to come inside the store in the middle of the night." I'm sure he deals with a lot of not-savory characters. And he probably wonders why this kid pulls up in a van and wants to buy 5 Red Bulls. So I complete my transaction in the safety of the inside and then we're on our way. I told Susan that while that was another quirk for our day's list, that guy probably thought the same about us. So it goes...

South By WOOHOO!

Day two is done, and I should be getting ready to go plod around again for day three...but blogging comes first. Rule number one for being Jana: blogging ALWAYS comes first. I guess it all started Wednesday night when I ended up at the Gibson Showroom for the Austin Music Awards after party. Porterdavis is Best Roots-Rock Band...because they are...so there was celebration. Deadman, Slaid Cleaves, and Hayes Carll played among others and them were good times. Yesterday got off to a good start when I turned in my notice of not renewing my lease on my apartment. Now I actually have to start packing and throwing stuff out for reals because it's...REAL. Eek! I made my way to 6th street, found an excellent parking spot, and wandered in to Waterloo Records. I was there early to see Justin Townes Earle. Luckily there's lots to look at. I did not buy anything, though, as tempting as it was. The weird part was the I, the CD junkie, had the thought many a time of, "I'll just download it." Poor brick and mortar. Part of it is probably the thought that anything I buy will have to be moved down 3 flights of stairs in a month. I digress... The only thing I knew about Justin is that he's Steve Earle's kid and he's a legend in the singer-songwriter parts so I thought why not? I was so impressed. Justin's a great musician and his songs are great and his presence is charming. Charmed! Then I had a couple of options and they were on 6th Street so I trekked quite a few blocks East from Waterloo. The weather was perfect and there was already so much going on for 1:30 in the afternoon. I knew Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines were doing a Gibson showcase, but I had no idea what time they were playing...so I decided to try that party first and just see. Lo and behold I walk up the stairs at Maggie Mae's and Terri and Lloyd are sound checking. SCORE. They did 4 songs and I was thrilled because it's been months since I've had a Terri show fix. Afterwards Brandon, the manager for porterdavis who also works for Gibson, hooked me up with this sweet wristband. Dear Brandon, you are my favorite. That got me into the VIP lounge where Terri and Lloyd were being interviewed. After that Randy Rogers and Mark Jungers played followed by Bruce Robison with my buddy and Red Leaf teacher Kevin Carroll on guitar. Bruce is a great songwriter and the likes of the Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, and George Strait have covered his stuff. Then it was over to Artz Rib House for Elizabeth Wills and a Diet Coke. And some photo fun. And THEN...then...Elizabeth and I headed over to La Zona Rosa to see about some Tori Amos. We cruised in with good parking karma and there wasn't a line to get in. We found a spot on the left side of the stage and planted. Perez Hilton introduced her which is maybe my first encounter with a blogger celebrity in real life. And there was TORI. I got to see Tori in college and she converted me into the type of fan that will forever buy her albums on the first day of release. My shortlist of artists like that is well...short. The thing that I love about Tori is her stage presence and musicianship. She's a classically trained pianist and an impeccable singer and when she's in the room, you're watching her. Her command of the audience is one of the best I've ever seen from anyone. Always observing. We got to hear 3 new tunes from her new record and also some classics like "Crucify" and "Cloud On My Tongue" and "Silent All These Years." Yeah. And I went home and went to bed and now I need to do it all over again.

Dallas Oh Dallas

Warning: due to the graphic nature of this post and my ability to take close-up photos, some content past this point might not be suitable for people who get really icky and squeamish about blood. I noted last night that my week is divided into my "work week" at the music school which is 3 days, and my "work week" as tour monkey which is the other 4 days, and while I refer to the latter as my "weekend" it starts on Thursday. People get confused when it's Wednesday night and I say, "I made it to the weekend!" Which is not to say I don't work on the "weekend"...but somewhere there is a delineation of time. Anyway. Hello Traffic. You must be in Dallas. suSANG! played an opening set at Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse in Dallas on Friday night. We got there early and sound checked and hung out in the greenroom. Their carpet was nice on stage. I noted that while I took this. Amy was with us and we messed around with the 3-panel mirror backstage. Then...disaster struck! A broken string during soundcheck. Time for Tour Monkey Duty. Now, I have no issues changing strings but if any of you have never done it before, you should be aware that getting pricked by the sharp end of a guitar string is a unique pain that is capable of throbbing for hours and causing me to bleed everywhere. I've done it more than I care to admit. Not always, but sometimes. Guess what? Ow. Primpity primp primp! Yay for cool mirrors! They have a neat backstage guestbook for the artists at Uncle Calvin's, and Susan has never turned down a pile of markers. She set to work on a self portrait. The end result was excellent and gave props to headlining act Pat Donohue. That will sell to the Louvre for millions one day, I bet.

Lessons Learning

It's been quite the few days over here on planet Jana. The long weekend consisted of a planned "camping" trip and an unplanned gig. Those of you who know me well know that's pretty backwards for moi. I use "quotes" around "camping" because I slept in a house all weekend, but we sat around campfires a lot and played guitar and my buddy Amy made about 4 killer meals all in one dutch oven over coals. That is skill, people. Also Susan the Boss beat me at Guitar Hero, which is...I suppose...how it should be*. Due to some mix-ups in booking transitioning, Susan found out she had a gig on Valentine's Day in San Antonio...the day before the gig. (Please note right here that if any blame is to be levied here it is not on anyone mentioned in this blog mmmmkay?). This is not optimal because it does not allow one to properly do things like...tell people you're playing a gig. Luckily all 20 or so campers piled into vans and we all drove to Casbeer's in San Antonio, whereupon it was bestowed upon me the title of Opening Act. I was super psyched because Casbeer's at the Church is a fantastic venue and listening room with a great reputation. My comrades commented that "Game Face Jana" appeared for awhile before the gig; I really forced myself to mentally prep for this space. The good news was there were plenty of friendly faces in the crowd...ones I had met before and ones I had yet to meet. I had a great time playing. Susan's set was excellent, and she brought up some of our talented fellow campers to play as well. We kind of bring the big guns when we rough it, so "campfire jam" means something entirely different when a bunch of pro musicians are hanging around. Tiffany Shea rocked us, Andy Pate cracked us up, and Elizabeth Wills about raised the roof with her gorgeousness. Marian worked the hardest of us all that night, because she played fiddle with all of us. So much fun! So all in all...the unexpected turned into a very good thing and I had quite the educational Valentine's Day...about the love/hate thing we all have for the music business. The good thing to keep in mind is that most people who do it - from the artists to the venues to the listeners - do it because they love it. That's what it takes to keep all of us crazy musicians off the streets, yo. * I totally just let her win.

Resetting the Clock. Again.

Augh. Going from days that start around noon and end around 3 AM to days that start at 6 AM and end at 11 PM is WEIRD, folks. Yesterday was a giant sleepwalk after a merch weekend and getting back into a new week. But it's ok, and stuff gets done, and I can always think, which is my favorite pastime. Thinking does not require operating heavy machinery or caffeine thank goodness. We're having pretty awesome weather here in Texas, so we can sit on the porch and look at maps without shivering too much. Pretty nice. I spent the White Elephant gig perched on the corner of the dancefloor, which gave me a great view of Mr. David Carroll and his upright bass skillz. Dig it. The band was rockin' and always a treat to see. It was the first weekend of the Fort Worth Stock Show, something that used to put me in a state of dread when I worked in the 4-H office because that usually meant I had forgotten to turn in some form for some sheep or something...but this time it was cool because Susan had a huge crowd. And there were no forms to turn in. And instead of looking bored in a cubicle I get to look cheesy in a soundbooth. Life is indeed fun...so my internal clock will just have to deal with it.