Tour Blog #4!
July 12, 2009 : Arlington, VA
The drive to DC was really terrible and traffic was out of control. Driving in the northeast in summer time is like torture. We pulled into DC and ate Ethiopian food with our friends Sam and Anka. Having never eaten it before, it was quite an experience. Stacie’s old friend Olivia came to the show, as did our father’s lifelong friend, Andrew. It was a laid back Sunday show at a cozy little neighborhood bar in Arlington.
We split up for the night, with Chris and Stacie staying with Olivia and Travis and I staying with Sam and Anka. Despite Olivia’s house being in the better neighborhood and us parking our car right in her private driveway, someone decided to smash the front passenger window and help themselves to our stuff. It happened in broad daylight and the police were little to no help. Despite this major setback, we found a glass repair place 15 miles away in Maryland, had the window replaced and were off for Raleigh without missing a beat. For a minute there, I saw the rest of the tour’s success flash before my eyes, but we managed to keep pushing on.
July 13, 2009 : Raleigh, NC
Raleigh is always an anticipated destination as we have made many friends and always do well there. One of the local bands canceled on us last minute, so it was only going to be two acts. For a Monday night, that seemed adequate. Our good friends Lamar and Christy met us at the venue as we arrived, as did our old buddy Vince Williams. As I said to them, who could be better to cheer us up?
Chris, another good NC friend, was gracious enough to get his band to help us out as the local support. His band played southern rock jammy stuff and were pretty good. When they were breaking down, their drummer mentioned something to me about how Morningbell is much tamer than their band, so we should be OK with the PA levels they set. TAMER? I Said. We’ll f’ing show you tamer! After the events of the break in and this little quip, we pulled out the fire to put on one hell of a show. I’d say it was the best of the tour as everything seemed to click. We ended up playing a 3 song encore to what turned out to be a very receptive crowd.
Lamar made us delicious waffles in the morning and we were on our way.
July 14, 2009 : Asheville, NC
A relatively short drive to Asheville awaited us today. As we approached the Smoky Mountains, we felt much more at ease than we had been while in the congested northeast. Asheville is like the town where all the carnival workers live when the carnival isn’t on the road, but instead of carnival, think Phish concert. In other words, it’s like a holding pattern for Bonnaroo attendees. Everyone has dreads, smells bad, kicks a hacky sack, hulas a hula hoop, etc. Honestly, the town is amazing. We were just amused to see the collection of hemp clad hippies. Since we were early to town, we were finally able to relax for a few hours at Chris’ friend Nicole’s house before heading into town for dinner. Stacie met up family while Travis and I met up with our UM Professor, Michael Carlebach and his wife Margot. We all had great times catching up with our loved ones before heading to the venue.
Chris was able to set tonight’s show up through various contacts and we really didn’t know what to expect. The venue turned out to be really hip and since we were the only band, we did whatever we wanted as far as start time, end time, etc. Asheville has been the first place where at least a half dozen people came to the show because they saw the flyer and checked us out online. We ended up playing to a great Tuesday night crowd and drank delicious local brews and meads. Tonight’s set really fired on all cylinders. As with Raleigh, it seemed like everything clicked. We’re finally in the zone after 2 weeks on the road. The crowd stuck around and talked to us after the set about various subtle nuances they all enjoyed. I absolutely love when complete strangers recognize and enjoy the tiny little details we’ve created for our show over the years. To cap the night off, we met an A&R guy from MOOG synthesizers who offered to give us a free personal tour of the factory tomorrow. Great night!
The drive to DC was really terrible and traffic was out of control. Driving in the northeast in summer time is like torture. We pulled into DC and ate Ethiopian food with our friends Sam and Anka. Having never eaten it before, it was quite an experience. Stacie’s old friend Olivia came to the show, as did our father’s lifelong friend, Andrew. It was a laid back Sunday show at a cozy little neighborhood bar in Arlington.
We split up for the night, with Chris and Stacie staying with Olivia and Travis and I staying with Sam and Anka. Despite Olivia’s house being in the better neighborhood and us parking our car right in her private driveway, someone decided to smash the front passenger window and help themselves to our stuff. It happened in broad daylight and the police were little to no help. Despite this major setback, we found a glass repair place 15 miles away in Maryland, had the window replaced and were off for Raleigh without missing a beat. For a minute there, I saw the rest of the tour’s success flash before my eyes, but we managed to keep pushing on.
July 13, 2009 : Raleigh, NC
Raleigh is always an anticipated destination as we have made many friends and always do well there. One of the local bands canceled on us last minute, so it was only going to be two acts. For a Monday night, that seemed adequate. Our good friends Lamar and Christy met us at the venue as we arrived, as did our old buddy Vince Williams. As I said to them, who could be better to cheer us up?
Chris, another good NC friend, was gracious enough to get his band to help us out as the local support. His band played southern rock jammy stuff and were pretty good. When they were breaking down, their drummer mentioned something to me about how Morningbell is much tamer than their band, so we should be OK with the PA levels they set. TAMER? I Said. We’ll f’ing show you tamer! After the events of the break in and this little quip, we pulled out the fire to put on one hell of a show. I’d say it was the best of the tour as everything seemed to click. We ended up playing a 3 song encore to what turned out to be a very receptive crowd.
Lamar made us delicious waffles in the morning and we were on our way.
July 14, 2009 : Asheville, NC
A relatively short drive to Asheville awaited us today. As we approached the Smoky Mountains, we felt much more at ease than we had been while in the congested northeast. Asheville is like the town where all the carnival workers live when the carnival isn’t on the road, but instead of carnival, think Phish concert. In other words, it’s like a holding pattern for Bonnaroo attendees. Everyone has dreads, smells bad, kicks a hacky sack, hulas a hula hoop, etc. Honestly, the town is amazing. We were just amused to see the collection of hemp clad hippies. Since we were early to town, we were finally able to relax for a few hours at Chris’ friend Nicole’s house before heading into town for dinner. Stacie met up family while Travis and I met up with our UM Professor, Michael Carlebach and his wife Margot. We all had great times catching up with our loved ones before heading to the venue.
Chris was able to set tonight’s show up through various contacts and we really didn’t know what to expect. The venue turned out to be really hip and since we were the only band, we did whatever we wanted as far as start time, end time, etc. Asheville has been the first place where at least a half dozen people came to the show because they saw the flyer and checked us out online. We ended up playing to a great Tuesday night crowd and drank delicious local brews and meads. Tonight’s set really fired on all cylinders. As with Raleigh, it seemed like everything clicked. We’re finally in the zone after 2 weeks on the road. The crowd stuck around and talked to us after the set about various subtle nuances they all enjoyed. I absolutely love when complete strangers recognize and enjoy the tiny little details we’ve created for our show over the years. To cap the night off, we met an A&R guy from MOOG synthesizers who offered to give us a free personal tour of the factory tomorrow. Great night!