Back in Beantown. (Sudbury, MA)

I’m in a good place at the moment. Sitting in bed watching a rerun of the Red Sox/Indians game on NESN (New England Sports Network), occasionally interrupted by commercials for local Boston-area small businesses, which is equally entertaining. I’m in a small bedroom on the second floor, at the back corner of a large, old (1700’s) colonial bed and breakfast, and I’ve got my screen door open to a deck at the back of the house. The wind is whipping through the trees near the deck, and a nice cool (almost cold), humid breeze is blowing through the open door and across my bed. Feels like a summer night, and it’s perfect.

We drove 4 hours from Burlington, Vermont since I last went to sleep (and since my last road journal post below). Stayed at the B&B for the afternoon and worked on our various computers while trying not to move too often. It hit 94 degrees with 90% humidity in Boston today, so we were all really struggling to keep our energy up, going on 1-2 hours of sleep the night before, spending half of the day in the van, and then the heat. Again – where I’m writing you from right now is just about perfect for ending this type of day.

We played in Waltham, MA tonight, and if I’m honest, it wasn’t the best show/experience of the tour by any stretch. Nights like tonight can be challenging to the morale, but you have to focus on the ‘war,’ not the ‘battle.’ It wasn’t a terrible night, but it definitely won’t make the ‘favorites’ list for us when we recap this trip from home. Not sure exactly what it was… partially us being super tired… partially the Celtics game playing on the wall through the whole show… partially some technical and sound mix difficulties before and during the show… the audience feeling it being a weeknight/work night… yadda, yadda. I don’t know. Nights like tonight are perfectly suited for the internet-era word, “meh.” Oh, well… the last 5 nights have been fantastic, and the next 5 will likely be the same… so we’ll focus on the big picture.

[I definitely don’t want to take away from those who came out tonight, of course! There were a few Backstage members there, which was great… and friends we hadn’t seen in many, many years. We really appreciate all who braved the rainy weather and ignored next-morning-alarm-clocks to come out on a work/school night to support us.]

We’ve got another long drive in a few hours. We’ll leave around 9am for the 10 hour drive to Charlottesville, Virginia and a show at 10pm at Bel Rio. Never been to that venue, so it will be a little adventure for us. Through the day, we’ll pass Hartford, New York City, Philadelphia, Newark, Baltimore, and Washington D.C… quite a drive.

On the entire tour to-date, we’ve been trying hard not to leave anything behind in the various cities that we visit for 24 hours or so at most. Computers, music equipment, cell phones, bags, clothing… lots of things that can get lost, in a hotel room or in a venue. We’ve been lucky to have Fred along to make sure that we don’t lose things… and to make sure that our shows are promoted online, that our sound and lighting is working, that the neighborhoods around the venue are full of flyers, and that we’re getting honest feedback after each show, and that anyone in the room who we’re meeting for the first time leaves with a CD, and that our email list continues to grow, etc. Tonight in Waltham was our last show with Fred on tour, as he lives in Boston, so he’s jumping off the boat and leaving us to continue on as a quartet. We want to send a HUGE ‘thank you’ to Fred for all of the help and hard work and driving and support and setlists and recordings and photos and on and on. We’re definitely feeling like we’re leaving something important behind as we pull out of town in the morning… we’ll look forward to the next time we can have Fred out with us. THANKS, FRED!

I’ll post another update with pictures as we make our way down the East Coast.