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Aug 10th - Whoa…..
what happened? well, a lot. maybe it will be brought to you in some flashbacks. the end of the bike tour went well, followed by two days of eating and sleeping in chicago. i mean, thats all i did because thats all my body wanted to do. After that it was a quick ride to the train station, followed by a great train ride home. What then proceeded was a whirlwind of action. packing my whole studio and instruments and driving out to Cambridge in less than a day with 10 days of 13+ hours of recording with 20+ hours a day in a basement. sleeping on the floor or eventually moving up to sleeping on a fold out mattress propped up on suitcases so the mice wouldn’t get me. I then returned home and have spent the rest of the time finishing up my Bitter Bluebird EP, Joel Murray’s Full Length cd ‘Young’ while playing some shows and sometimes sleeping. All this ends on August 11th when i start back out on the road in a trio of myself(cello), Joel Murray(guitar) and Jenny Albert(accordion). we shall blog through this tour and I will share more info from the bike tour.
Chris
Indianapolis - 0 miles
Sweet sweet sleep. I managed to get a room of my own that night at the hostel. They didn’t know I was coming, but thats ok. I woke up late, ate the rest of my food(fried a cucumber) and lounged around mingling with the other residents. Met a nice guy named Tom that reminds me a bit of Jerry Fels. He took me on an epic journey to find his bank and find us food. Most of the day was spent lounging though, checking things on the internet, watching bad made-for-tv movies.
Mark, the booking agent showed up a bit before the show and started setting up. It had rained most of the day so the show was inside. He was a friendly chap, surfer looking. He added another band on the bill, something that peeved me a bit at first, but I got over it soon enough. they were great. a two piece, bit like radiohead. surprisingly their first show. Accordions played, a bit softer than the last time i saw them(drums will do that), and let me play Robert L. Sinclaire along with them(to modest success on my part). I was ‘on fire’ and played the best show of the tour so far. Afterwords it was Bagels and iced tea with Ben from accordions, with a lengthy discussion about everything music related. a perfect day all in all.
Indianapolis, IN - 80 miles
A short night of sleep to awake to eggs is still a wonderful thing. Jeremy and I call a few bike shops trying to figure out when they open up. We head to Ike’s Bikes, a quaint shop with whom I had dealings with in the form of a very rude worker the day before, turns out to be where we head. A short drive into Richmond we are in the crowded shop greated warmly and told they might have what we need. After some discussion we find the right rim and as I am deciding what debit card I can pay with Jeremy goes and continues his kind works by paying for this rim from his Church’s card. Another kind gesture. At this point I am off and running. Some borrowed money from my parents(to pay off the bank debt) and a couple proein bars and I’m off and running. West on I-40, stopped at a garage sale. Not much for me there but a really kind old gentleman. Then the google maps directions tell me to head north on to county roads. one is a gravel road, a slow going gravel road. I find a guy on a moped and ask where 40 is. find it and head back to that straight shot to indy, and boy am I glad I did. It was hot and humid, the kind of hot and humid that means rain is coming. and soon it did. I waited out a small storm in one town and when it cleared up decided to make a break 4 miles west to Dunreith. I took a nap on a bench as the storm came in and after awaking decided to wait it out in the antique store across the street. it looked open, i think? no lights, but two open signs out. I knocked. no answer, open the door, an alarm went off, i walked out now waiting for the police to come cause i just broke in. but the only person that came was an octegenarian named Jerry, just shuffling up the narrow path between antiques. He was about 5′2″, bushy hair(where he had it) and smoked a pipe. We talked about the instruments he had in his shop, he showed me a WWI mandolin, beautiful thing. It was a pleasant couple hours filled with much smoking on their part, some really dirty water and two bombs being dropped. the first, Jerry helped write the first three episodes of M*A*S*H, slightly confirmed by facts he told me, I believe him. The second was a horrible racist story about integration. After the storm ended I started off, running a bit late and high tailed to the Hostel at the breakneck speeds of 15 mph!
Richmond….err ah Eaton?
Ahh computer time, a lovely way to get a bunch of things done. or to try and get things done. Eggs and Cucumber for breakfast, a bunch of planning and a ride back to Dayton followed by 2 hours of talking with Bill and Jenn. I love these two, they are amazing people and I am always so happy to have their aquaintance. But a late start on biking (2 pm). It was back roads the whole way, all by beautiful houses. A sparkling day until I met a ditch. I was crusing aong hugging the shoulder when I slipped off onto the gravel, something that has happened a 100 times before. What hasn’t happened 100 times before was my bike continuing into the ditch and my body taking a chance on flying. It seems I can make it 5 feet, uninjured. But there I was. I didn’t think it was that bad until I went for my bike. and the front wheel. bent at a 30 degree angle sideways. The shit had hit the fan(so to speak). There I was on a country road in the middle of nowhere, and have I forgot to mention. I think I did. I overdrew my bank account to come on this tour (-139.16 yay overdraft fees). no money and no ride. This is where the adventure begins. two women stop in vans asking if i need help, turns out they know some similar people andfigure out how to get me someplace that might be of help. Walmart is their answer. I decided if I can get a new rim that I can make it to the show. time passes, we ger to the walmart, they dont sell rims. THey have things to do, so they leave me there. I call Bill and ask if he can come from Dayton(20 miles) to pick me up. he thinks the car will make it. As I am waiting there a man walks by and stares at me. Stops. walks back. he asks my story, I tell him and he instructs me to put my bike in the back of his truck. I comply. His name is Jeremy, a youth pastor from Eaton, OH and has taken it upon himself to help me out. He offers that can have his rim if it fits my tire. it doesn’t. So he takes me to a guy. we try his. it doesn’t. A three bears syndrome is occuring. another man, no luck. SO he kindly brings me back to his home, feeds me, houses me and is more generous than anyone could ever be. We spent most of the night driving around talking, meeting members of the town and I his family ending with passing out on a soft plush couch.
Dayton, OH
Eric made quite the sweet breakfast. Eggs with spinach, and home fries, it was glorious. we talked a bit more and I headed out. The original plan was to take the shortest path to Richmond, but an old high school classmate of mine, Amy Sturzenbecker responded to my ‘need a place to stay in columbus’ post on facebook and offered her couch in dayton. I gladly accepted. so 10 miles more of biking for a great place to sta and a chance to see some old friends? what a trade! It was a quick ride of 40 miles. I finished Jerome K. Jerome’s ‘Stageland’, his worst book yet(at least that I have read…well listened to). It was all just flat cornfields and nice driving all the way in. Running a bit late though I didnt arrive until 8 pm. My goal was to see my friends Jenn and Bill. Knowing they both worked on 5th street, I headed right down and sure enough found them at the Trolley, a wonderful bar in the Oregon district. Jenn was surprised, but not too. I have the knack of showing up unexpected in dayton just to say hi. Amy came to pick me up, it was surprisingly not awkward. We loaded my bike into her car and drove the 15 miles south to her place. A few blocks away they introduced me to the ‘Bad Juan’ a lovely margarita produced by a small chain of resturants in Dayton. 6.50(and all of my money) later, I was pretty drunk and we headed back. What a couch I tell you.
Columbus, OH - 30 miles
I only recognize One 5 Oclock a day normally. but sometimes things have to change. after a light sweaty sleep in my tent, I awoke at 5:15 in the morning and started packing, it never really got dark, the light pollution was too great. I got things together and started heading out. a beautiful morning, the sun not risen, just a cool breeze . reminded me of when I was back in college getting up to do the 5 am labs. passed through the suburbs and found a tim hortons where I ate a giant breakfast, then to CVS to pick up some eye drops, found cheap protein bars. ate two on the way down, because a egg sandwich, donut and tea arent enough to even get me started in the morning.The sun rose, traffic grew, and suddenly I was downtown at 8 am, not too bad of a rush hour, but a bit more hectic than cleveland. Passed downtown, then the two mile drive out a perilous road to the station. I arrived as the receptionist was just getting set up, I told her who i was, she looked confused, but called and asked me to sit down. We watched some footage on Michael Jackson’s funeral, then I tried my best to get cleaned up. collared shirt, brush teeth, kind of, somewhat tame hair. Turns out I was supposed to go to the back entrance, they rush me in. the producer asks me to sing a song a capela, i told her i had my uke, she told me to tune it up and she would be back, played two lines, said it was great and rushed me into the studio. they put me on the soundstage, Andy the anchorman came over, wasn’t too happy about having to hold up my bike. but agreed. we did the part, i played a verse of the song, he made a snide but sneaky comment about my lack of showering and then i was whisked off back to the hallway, packed up and let off. so i wandered down to the venue, which was open. Andreas, the owner is amazing, and has really made a beautiful place of victorians midnight cafe. he todl the bartender who reminded me a bit of my friend Jenn that I had an open tab. oh glorious free food. I hung around used his computer secured my spot as the co-producer to Jeremy Quentin’s new album and headed down the library to wait in line for computer time, did some more work. I had a bunch of free time so I headed down to my favorite coffee shop in town Cafe Apropos, owned by a very nice man named Anton. Sadly anton was not there, but I did pick up a sweet brownie and tried my hand at free time. I sat there people watching, then journaling, then haiku’s. the best of which was abotu pool’s. but I will share that later because I dont have it on me. to a park for some phone calls and arrived back to the cafe jsut in time to see the giant german party hanging around. I dont know much that went on, I was in the other room. Some time later the fiasco of the show started. Due to many miscommuncations, sound man, payment, etc. I ended up running sound and no door was charged much to my chagrin, but I played well and met a great guy named Eric. and old punk turned Poli Sci professor at a college 30 min away. He offered me a place to stay and I gladly accepted. He had a beautiful house and a wonderful basement with bed included for me to sleep on, we traded zines for cd’s, talked about just about everything(I was a bit too loose in the tongue thanks to alcohol) and I did some great laundry, trying to read a bit didnt work out as his library was too huge to concentrate and I was too tired.
New Albany, OH
My knees have never hurt so bad, the hills just kept coming. I didn’t think I could make it. Walking up hills, coasting down. followed by huge blisters on my feet. for 30 miles it was this. I started debating if it was possible to go to columbus, maybe the trip would be off. Then came Mt Vernon, glorious flat Mt Vernon. No more trying trying to figure out which Sex and the City character best represented all of us from ‘girls night’ or drawing wisdom from episodes of ‘Little House on the Prairie’ just slight rolling hills, pastures and nice people. Well, mostly nice people. In town one lady yelled out ‘ I think you should be on the sidewalk.’ I told her ‘no, its illegal’, but thought about it later. what an odd thing to yell. at least make it a statement, a definite hard statement, not a varied suggestion about what to do. like yelling ‘i think you are high up there’ when standing on the top of the empire state building. stopped to eat a lot, some great pecan pie one place and some great potato salad from a deli. but soon I was in Johnstown, OH, stopped at the library and 30 minutes later in New Albany. then the problem set in, i was closer to suburbia than i thought, but still had 20 miles to the News station, a 2 hour ride. So it was trying to find camping or a place to stay closer or get up at 5:30 and ride in to be at Fox 28 by 8:15. I started making calls trying to get a hold of someone in Columbus, no luck, tried Billy Mack, we tried one of his friends, no luck. I started asking around to anyone who might know of a place to camp or lawn to sleep in. no luck. I found a closed road, a dirt pile and a field and decided if nothing else, I would stay there. Tried an ice cream parlor, ate a salad there(how lame), waited it out, asked them. no luck. so headed back to what in 5 years will be a future condo. set up behind the dirt pile and set up camp.
Loudonville, OH
I woke up early and spent some time catching up on work thanks to the internet. showered, put on the same dirty clothes and headed out to work my way toward Columbus. Some directions from a man walking a dog and then some up hill driving, then down a bit, then more uphill. repeat for 6 hours. i forgot to stretch the night before and felt a tug in my leg by my knee, then pain. repeat for hours. i trudged on fairly slow all day trying to get 70 miles down to make my second day easier. I make it about 60, gave up when i came upon a golden bike path lined in campgrounds. Started listening to ‘Vegetarianism and the Occult’ hoping for something humorous about sacrificing cucumbers to strange dieties…..no such luck. to sum it up ‘put good things in your body, you will be good’ old wisdom, and it saves hours from your life by not listening to the book. I dragged myself up to the campsite determined to make a fire to cook dinner. boiled some zuchinni with dehydrated banannas(thanks to Katie Spotz) with some oatmeal(thanks to the continental breakfast). an ok meal for a long day.
Akron, OH - 42 miles
Ah, the supposed easy day. my parents came down the night before and put me up in a hotel, a great continental breakfast later they dropped me back off at the venue and i started down hoping to pick up the Ohio Canal bike trail and take it down all the way to akron. it was to fulfill my canal destiny. I had amended to my hotel printed directions but after some second guessing and too many hills south of parma i decided to ask someone where to go. In trimmed Bill(he was trimming his hedges), after some conversation he decided it was easier to just show me the canal path and drove down on his bike with me. This is not the canal I had expected, it was like the old Erie Canal, thin and shallow, partially overgrown, but with flatter paths and smooth roads i sailed on. I met some nice people who purchased me a popsicle, those real fruit kind. wonderful things. all was good until i noticed I was running late. I started to high tail it, but got a bit lost, found a map, found a hill, strained my legs 411-ed(verbing that one) the venue info and finally showed up 20 min late to no one at the bar except the bartended and a 30-something punk named Zack. We all talked a bit, the bartender pushed the show back til 6, waiting for people to show up. Zack left for a bit and upon return promised me 8 people all waiting to listen to me play at the house and tried to get me to leave. Being only 40 minutes in to a 2 hour set I was confused, it was a paying gig, Zack ambiguously ‘asked’ the bartender if I could leave(only by actually asking him ‘we’re cool right?’) tricky devil this one was. I talked to the bartender, and Zack was discouraged that I had to play more, I was not. More people started trickling in toward the end of the set and they were really enjoying it. Zack grew impatient, I got done 2 hours later, started packing up, thanked and apologized to the bartender from trying to leave earlier. he was understanding.
It was a short walk down to the house I was staying at. Zack told me about hopping trains and being the oldest punk around, how the others had sold out and how being a 30 yr old punk helped him get ‘the 19 yr old pussy.’ I started wondering as we walked deeper into the ghetto, he told me about the 12 yr olds trying to prove themselves the people that don’t like him and his dog. he loves his dog. we arrived at a house, where a family and some of their friends were out on the lawn, everyone was out on the lawn, eating, drinking, laughing, just a big old block party. I was introduced to Chris and his girlfriend and the house I was staying it, it was ok, in the process of being rebuilt. kind of dirty, but not bad. it was good times and drinking until they started the fireworks, 4′x4′ flats of fireworks, better than the city’s. Long night, good people.
Lakewood, OH - 50 Miles
A long night of sleep and another late start, breakfast with Alex’s family, who somehow, somewhy are not italian, but sure act like it. I head off again at 10:30 only to be stopped 6 miles in by a girl in a van yelling out her window ‘Are you biking across the country? ” i said no, only to Chicago. She offered me food(why i turned it down i have no clue), but we did meet at a starbucks(we didn’t purchase anything) and talked. Her name was Katie Spotz and as she told me she is going to be the youngest person to row across the atlantic ocean. hopes of kindred spirits and visions of myself in 5 years commenced. she has had her hand at other feats. running across the mojave desert, swimming the entire allegheny river and everyone’s favorite, biking across the country. I headed back out by 1 pm and started for the other side of cleveland. City driving, better than suburban driving, but it has its own perks. went through some strange parts of town, and had ‘you best get your ass out of this neighborhood’ i tried to yell back, ‘i’m trying’ 30 miles more of construction and city driving i arrived in downtown cleveland, took some pictures of the lake, pissed off a few buses and headed to lakewood. the venue was great, the library with its strict internet policy was not, the band that was good but brought no people, not so good. Losing my iPod and having to drive back to the venue at 1 am only to find it in my yellow bag. also bad. overall. good day, bad show.