Slackin' So-Low.... yet not...

A big "word up to your muthas" to you and yours. I am in Albany, NY. Sittin' at a little coffeeshop here in town, listening to the locals put their talents on display at an open mic. The owner, Anton, was nice enough to let me open up the long open mic list tonight with an extended set as a featured performer, and it went pretty well. Met a few cool peeps, and got some good feedback.

I also sat down on a stool tonight. Haven't done that in a long while. I usually like to stand up and rock the best I can... as it turns out, I think it's still possible to rock sitting on a stool or chair. So my final conclusion is that it went pretty well.

This is my solo stint out east, labeled the "heading to Whitney's wedding in Maine" tour. Not many people know that, but I am able to plan my shows around my personal life sometimes, and what better way to make a LONG trek to Maine, than with shows on the way there (though not on the way back... boo hoo). By the way, the proper response to someone who says "poop" in defeat, is "pee." Nice to reciprocate, but also show that you are listening when a friend expresses a bit of angst.

So I wanted to mention that I met an awesome band the other night in Rochester, NY. They are called Tallahassee. #1, extremely polite and gracious upon first meeting/introduction. #2 Great musicians, great show. #3, their great manager, Dave, actually put me on the bill to open up, and then even had the nerve to pay me part of the door, as an extreme outsider. I bought their CD and it literally has been spinning uncontrollably in the Yela-ment since that night. It's really Rootsy Rock and with great production.

A side note about the band is that their manager, and possibly some of the band members are in a side project called "The Rabbit's Red Thread." and they are working on an album currently. Furthermore, they played a song during the Tallahassee set, which was so amazing and catchy, but I don't recall the name of it. The chorus has been stuck in my head since the show on Sunday night. Today is Thursday. It has even inspired me to write a little guitar lick which I hope becomes a song, even though there's no way to do their song justice even in an "influential" kind of way...

SO please go and check out Tallahassee . I will hope to set up some shows on the road with them if at all possible in 2012. Great band to be around, both personally and musically.

Well after two college shows since that show, and an opportunity to hang out again with a Couch-Surfing friend in Pittsburgh, I am here now in Albany (make sure you pronounce it right, Midwesterners = "ALL-Bany."

Tomorrow I'll hit up another little cafe in Vermont. I love New England in the Fall!

Then my friend's wedding. I hope my gift/check clears... I would have given cash if I owned any... don't get me started. I actually stiffed a couple of friends on a wedding check one time years ago. It's okay, I got them other more sentimental gifts as well, and they still talk to me... so whatever... get over it.

Another side note... I got a van. A real van... a conversion. When I was young, my dad would drive my brothers, and I and usually a couple of teammates out on long hockey trips (at least we thought they were long) in the comfort of his Chevy Conversion Van. This one is obviously for Music/Tour purposes, and through a personal loan from a friend, I was able to secure one at a pretty reasonable price. My only hope is that (aside from the thing functioning properly) we get a lot of miles on it, and that I book enough shows to warrant its existence. I know it will be comfortable and powerful enough. (Hell, I might even look forward to occasionally sleeping in it).

I am excited, though the transaction went down earlier this week when I was in PA. I was waiting final word that it was picked up and headed back to the confines of suburban Detroit... and I looked at my phone later in the night and just saw a text that read: "The Eagle has landed." So it was pretty funny. I dubbed the pickup "a mission," and it was accomplished.

So be on the look-out for a 1999 Ford conversion van coming through your neighborhood one day, with a suspect-looking rusted out (though patched up with sheet metal) trailer attached to the back, and a bearded, Jesus-looking fellow in the cockpit. Then, and only then, you will know that HighMay has arrived.

Bless you all, my children... and God Bless the Lions. I am firmly and regularly applying the Detroit Lions Honolulu colored, and coconut scented butter... just lathering it up.

Midwest Wrap-Up

Whew. What a long drive back to MI. This took place about 3 days ago. But let me tell you how I got to that place...

I last checked in with you Wednesday morning, I had a double header in North Dakota, my 3rd and 4th ND shows for this stretch. Minot State Univ. has been nice enough to have me I think possibly 4 times now. Great little afternoon set in the Beaver Dam. This time, a wonderful young lady (who is in charge of entertainment) presented me with a little Minot State bag of goodies, including a cool t-shirt, a pizza cutter, and some great snacks. If you know me, you know I love sugary treats on the road. More geared toward the sugar and sour type, than chocolate, but I'll throw it all down in the end.

Fargo has become a place that I believe I can really make a dent into, in terms of future exposure, and especially with the band. After the afternoon show at Minot State, I cruised down to Fargo, and was lucky enough to get a couch-surfing host(ess) for the night. She didn't make it to my sparsely attended performance at a cafe right on NDSU campus, but it was still a cool spot. It was just a Wednesday night and I think a lot of the students were just getting to school and moving in, etc. Either way, hopefully I'll be able to rock it more next time through.

So After this show, I met up with Jen, my hostess for the evening, and she said that there's this cool band in town, called BoomBox. So she's a major bicycle enthusiast, and she says, "want to just ride downtown?" I said sure, even though I don't own a bike, but that's why they say, "it's just like riding a bike." It was a really nice, cool night, and we we just cruising the streets of Fargo, until we got downtown. Then we found the bar, and went to the upstairs club, and it was SOLD OUT. FUCK (right?) But wait, Jen is a woman of the town, and she knows people, and not only did she get us in to a SOLD OUT show, but for free, to boot.

It was not my typical type of show, but they were bumping all kinds of energy throughout this place, and everyone was dancing the entire time. Sometimes I love that feeling of a small club, really hot, sweating, people all around you, good vibes, good energy. It was a lot of fun, though they played for a while, and I was coming off of a double header and tons of driving, so by the time we hit the sheets it was pretty late, but I knew that I would sleep well that night regardless of what time my head hit the pillow.

The next morning, I Jen took me to a nice breakfast cafe and I was happy to buy her a quiche, and a coffee, and we bid one another adieu. Jen is a totally warm, and wonderful girl, and had been going through some stuff recently, so I'm glad to have taken part in what seemed to be a therapeutic evening for her. Hope to see her again in my travels.

Then on to Duluth, MN for what was supposed to be a gig as part of a local art opening. Well the "art opening" didn't show up, much like in the movie "My Cousin Vinny" the store had the flu. So I played to another sparse crowd. The silver lining in this day was that (1) I got to meet a kid, Tony, from UMD and he brought a contract for this show that we have been talking about for months, and we got it all signed and squared away. Hooray! Finally! and (2) with the way the evening went, I got a chance to speak with the owner of Beaner's Central, Jason. I had been trying to set something up there for a couple of years, and we thought we came up with a good way to get me in the door there, but with the art opening FAIL, it didn't work out too well. Jason has so much insight into the industry, especially what I have been trying to do with my music for the past 9 years... NINE YEARS... and he gave me some good insight, ideas, stories about what he has been through, so he could totally relate.

After couch surfing with Andy (a 2nd non-consecutive time this tour), it was on to Winona for the grand finale. The Acoustic Cafe is a cool spot, though not so "grande." I really think that this cafe is the lone venue that I have played way more than any other stage since I started touring around '02-'03. I don't know how I found it all those years ago, but they are always cool young people working there, they are nice, polite, positive. Good little stage, and a pretty decent crowd, depending on who walks in.

This day, it started with very few people. With a long set (around 2 hours of music), it's not uncommon to see people stick around, come and go, and rotate in a later crowd as the night goes on. What was cool about this night is that it started kind of slow, but as the night wore on, more people worked there way in to the music side of the cafe, from the quieter side, and they stayed until the end. That's always a good feeling, and they were attentive and listening, so it was a nice little show to cap things off with.

Back to the top of this post, with the long drive, etc... remember all of that?

I really wanted to make it back to jam with the band by 1pm Saturday, just because we have some shows coming up this month and I didn't want to set us back any further. So I had about a 3 hour window of "how long it takes to drive home" vs. "how long it will be until band practice." About 3-4 hours. So I began my drive, hoping that just continuously eating over time would allow me to stay alert and awake. Not eating much... just snacking, sunflower seeds, candy, maybe a sandwich... At one point in WI, I became quite tired and got a big coffee. But I am immune to caffeine. I have always been, I just got it because it was hot, and it was something to occupy my hand, mouth and brain. So it started off okay for the first couple of hours... then I became quite tired, fought through it. My goal when making a drive like this (in this direction) is to always just GET THROUGH CHICAGO. As I got toward the exit of Wisconsin, I knew Chicago was about 60-80 minutes away. It was a struggle, but I finally made it through chicago and then my next goal was just make it to the MI state line. then I know I have 3 hours left.

So no sooner did I cross the "PURE MICHIGAN" sign, than did I hit my wall, and found a nice little plaza to crash out for about an hour. I got up around 7am I think, and made it home by about 10-1030am. Good news, enough time to sleep some more before jamming with band. So I set my alarm, and just spent the rest of the day trying to get my whits about me... you know... showering, etc. Whew. It was a rough one.

Some goals coming up here as the year begins to wind down:

-Finish the RECORD!
-Buy a conversion van for the band touring
-Book tour dates for 2012

All right, as I can be sometimes, this entry is long wind.