Tea Bazaar. (Charlottesville, Virginia)
Charlottesville, Virginia is a beautiful place. Wow. I’ve had a few friends from here, and I’ve always wanted to visit. My parents almost moved our family here when I was a kid, but it didn’t pan out. I can see why there’s so much appeal, though. As soon as we crossed into Virginia from Maryland, the vegetation opened up into gorgeous tracts of land and pastures. There were low patches of fog hovering in little valleys all over the place, like ghosts sprinkled across the landscape. Overall, there’s an incredible serenity here, a sense of calm and slow pace. We pulled into town and grabbed some dinner, and then found the venue. It’s right in the heart of downtown C’ville, on the pedestrian mall. The load in was tough, as the closest we could park the van and trailer was a block down, and the venue is located on the second floor of the building, with a steep staircase that twists halfway up.
Dinner.
Dinner.
Dinner.
Loading in at the Charlottesville downtown pedestrian mall
Downtown Pedestrian Mall – Charlottesville, VA
The Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar – Charlottesville, VA
the band photographer.
the dreaded load-in.
Beers, friends, and the stage – Tea Bazaar, C’Ville VA
Loading out at the end of the night.
For all of the time spent sitting on our arses in a van, we get a good workout with the load-ins and load-outs. We’ll be taking the stage in about 20 minutes, to play a 2 hour set. I’ll post more later, after the show… or in the morning on our way to Knoxville.
headed south. (Boston, Massachusetts)
We bid adieu to the farm in Sudbury this morning, which has been our home for the week. What a gorgeous property to have as our homebase on tour. Comfortable beds for all of us, 9 acres of pastures and woods to wander during the day, and peace and quiet for writing, meditating, and generally relaxing. We can’t wait to be back there in April.
Beers’ dad has a mechanic shop just outside Boston, so we took the van there to get a look-over, and his dad fixed the hitch on the van, which was about ready to fall off after bouncing down the interstate to Philadelphia. I-95 is the bane of our existence on tour. Always full of traffic, always crappy roads that beat up the van, and tolls to add insult to the injury. The trailer hitch was getting jerked around like crazy, and the left side of it basically snapped off the frame.
We got it reattached and solid, and we’re now making our way south to Virginia. It’s about a 10 hour drive to Charlottesville, where we’re playing at the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar tonight. We’re staying at another gorgeous farm outside of the city tonight, which should lend itself to a good night of sleep for all of us.