Michelle Shocked Western US Tour

So a little background on this tour is that my friend Rich Armstrong is Michelle's trumpet player/percussionist and music director, and I was called in to sub for him (on different instruments of course) for the last leg of her Western US Tour. If you're not familiar with Michelle's music and story, check out her site. I had very little notice, no rehearsals (just some emailed mp3's) and went in not knowing what to expect except the unexpected.

Sat. 3/26 and Sun. 3/27/11
After some delays, ended up rendezvousing with all but one of the band at a gas station at 1am in Richmond early Sun. morn (don't ask), then drove str8 thru to Portland. 11 hrs. of rain ice and snow. Made it in 10 min before Michelle's radio appearance.
Mississippi Studios is without Q the nicest listening room I've played. Not the biggest (was sold out at 225 or so) but killer acoustics and vibe! Met Greg Harris (keys) min. before showtime who flew in from Denver, super chill guy, multi-talented musician, good folks. The 4th player (for the first 2 shows) was Martha Groves Perry, a firecracker of a cello player from Sunnyvale, CA.
After intros by M.S., she steps off stage and I opened each show with the support of the other 2 players with my tunes "My Great Escape", "World Closing In" and "God Fearin' Man" which were always very well rec'd. The fact that Martha had shedded the songs and harmonies beforehand was much appreciated too!
Talk about storytelling and banter, M.S. captures a crowd like no one I've seen, and much like other storytelling songsters, there's at least as much of that as there is music, and the lines between are blurry. While playing a bunch of tunes with no rehearsal (and def. different arrangements than the mp3's I was emailed) was a challenge, the 5 vocal only songs (the Indelible Women portion of the show) mid set are by far out of my comfort zone. Picture Broadway meets Do-Wop meets jazz crooning. But I think I've gotten the hang of it now (haven't been fired yet!). The songs are set to portraits of famous historical women painted by M.S.'s boyfriend, which served as our backdrop on stage for the tour. Crashed at my old from from Oakland Dave who moved up to Portland last year. Next morning I briefly saw the sun on my walk to a cafe to meet up with everyone, then clouds and rain again.

Mon. 3/28/11
Next stop was Jazz Alley in Seattle, which was a very different scene (and of course, more rain and cold). The drive up from Portland was one of a few cramped drives in the Toyota king cab. The ladies sat in back most of the time as it's tough for me at 6'2" and Greg at 6'5" to squeeze in, but we made it work.

Much more like Yoshi's with a sold out dinner crowd, most of the venues had hospitality, usually just sandwiches and drinks, but at Jazz Alley we got hooked up with a fat meal. After the venue told M.S. they take 20% of merch sales, she made an announcement later in the show to the effect of "$20 for CD's at the bar, or I'll meet you at our trailer in the alley and sell them for $15..." So there the fans were in the cold drizzle, in a big line after the show at the door of the trailer. The only light being my mini maglite M.S. found in there to display the CD's. Don't the think the venue was to keen on it, but props to her for sticking to her guns! My pops and step-mom came down for the show, and I ended up staying with them up in Stanwood, WA for a couple nights as we had a day off before Boise-great bonus to spend some time with them.

Weds. 3/30 and Thurs. 3/31/11
So we lost Martha after Seattle, and Greg flew back to Denver for another gig, which left me and M.S. to drive to Boise. Nasty weather through most of WA, but finally cleared as we got into eastern Oregon. Met up with fiddler Neti Vaan in Boise, and crashed at a Motel 6. Next day Greg flew back in, we had our first little rehearsal so far in the room with everyone (mainly for the vocal stuff) and we headed for our soundcheck at The Bouquet (after a Denny's meal-they now hand out add'l menus to each person that have all bacon dishes including, you guessed it:

a bacon and ice cream sundae).

Each of the venues were very different, The Bouquet was a large old saloon from the 1800's with a lot of character. The sound was kind of boomy with all the wood in the place, but we made it work to another packed house. This was also the show at which I switched to primarily playing bass for the rest of the tour, as without a cellist I had to hold down the low end. If the song called for it, I'd grab my strat, which was nice. Got props for bass players who do long gigs, things are heavy!

Probably my least favorite show, but still lots of fun. Each show we get to stretch out a little bit during a ten min. intermission, where we jam instrumentals for the crowd until the next set.

Fri. 4/1/11
After another night at Motel 6 we blasted off for Salt Lake. This was the hardest haul in terms of space in the cab, as we rotated in and out of those tiny backseats for the 6+ hr. drive. My knees are now well acquainted with my chest. But it was less painful than I expected and we stayed in good spirits. Most of the time we're on the road, M.S. is planning some further part of the tour, be it doing radio interviews by patchy cell connection to Australia for her tour there coming up, or giving the sound guy at the next venue our stage plot so that when we arrived late for soundcheck (most times) we'd have less to worry about. Greg and I kept sending shit-talking texts back and forth and tried not to crack up-hilarious.
Salt Lake too the cake as far as venues go. The State Theater was def. the most pro operation I saw. Multiple dressing rooms, amazing sound, a WiFi code on the wall that allowed me to Skype on my phone with Isla. (seeing her def. made me miss her so much more!) and a crowd that was as appreciative as you could ask for. Instead of trying to make the grueling haul 10 hr. drive to Denver through Wyoming the following morning, we took advantage of the amped up energy from such a fun show and opted to drive 3 hrs. after the show to a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming called Rock City. We made it in about 5:30am and headed into the now familiar Motel 6 room. For this short night's sleep, M.S. decided to crash in the trailer and the three of us squeezed into one room with the help of an air mattress.
At this point I was invited by M.S. to join her in Madison a couple days later to perform at a big rally on worker's rights which was an exciting proposition. Would've loved to be a part of something that important. However, after the lack of sleep and down time in between before the rally, I opted to head home on Sunday.

Sat. 4/2/11 (My madre's B-day)
After a short but hard nights sleep we headed out for Denver. This time M.S. opted to stay in the trailer as we drove (no thanks). Neti took the first shift, and if you've ever been through Wyoming, you'd know about the crazy winds. Always nice to see signs that read 55mph winds, NO SMALL TRAILERS when you're trying to make check 350 miles away with someone riding/sleeping in a small trailer. After a while, we had to get her out as it was crazy. We stopped at one the many truck stops-that's all there is (does anyone live in that state?) and went back to 4 deep up front.
As we were pulling in to Colorado (sunny and 80 degrees!), I got an email from Southwest air that my flight canceled. The scare of part of the roof of a 737 made them pull 80+ planes for inspection. Luckily I got another flight booked for later in the day. How did people tour without iPhones before? With weather, traffic, directions it's always a key component of travel these days, esp. when you're on the kind of schedule we were on.
Swallow Hill Music Hall was another seated sold out crowd, and I had some family and friends in the audience (Rachael, Lacey, David and his 2 daughters). Greg left before the encore to get to another gig, but not before being part of something super cool I had masterminded in lieu of not being at home to help my mom celebrate her 60th. M.S. frequently calls her boyfriend from stage and has him explain inspiration for the paintings, so I hoped M.S. would agree to help, and she did. She dialed my mom's house, and when she answered, the entire crowd screamed "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATE!" She was elated. M.S. apologized for kidnapping her son, and we played a B-day song that she wrote-good times.
After my goodbye's to Neti and M.S., I caught a ride with Lacey and Rachael over to Greg's show opening for Black Thought of the roots, a slightly different vibe than the tour we'd been on to say the least. Denver seems like a fun city, and the vibe where we were made me wish there were more cool hangs like that back in the Bay. I'll def. be making a trip back to play some solo shows and hang with the music community in Denver.
The final challenge was how to lug 2 bags, a bass, a guitar and an amp on the plane. Thinking some of my stuff could come back to CA in the trailer, which wasn't coming back after all, I ended up having to leave the amp at Greg's as I didn't have any box or case to check it on the plane in. Hopefully I'll get it back before too long. At the airport somehow the weather went from clear skies to a snowstorm after being in the 80's the day before, insane.

So to sum things up the tour was amazing. As always it comes down to the quality of the shows, which were awesome. Being put in front of sold out crowds with my own songs was amazing, and more than that I learned a lot about showmanship from Michelle Shocked, as we all were in awe of her mastery of the audience, night after night.

Thanks so much to her and all the other players/weary travelers for some great times!