[OTR Announce] Rambling Tour Diary - And a Glimpse of 2006
Announcement list for the band Over The Rhine
OTRAnnounce at overtherhine.com
Wed Jan 4 16:29:09 EST 2006
Once again, Hello from Nowhere Farm,
(We grow songs.)
Hey, Happy New Year.
The quilted earth is asleep out here, steeped in winter moisture beneath a
soft gray sky.
We wanted to send some words your way to thank you all once again for making
our December tour better than we could have imagined. Where do we begin?
Karin and I were up at 5:30am at the farm on day one, surrounded by snowy
fields. Beautiful sunrise snuck up on us as we packed the suitcases and guitars
and headed to Cincinnati where we met Rick and Devon and Kim as well as our
fine crew: Brandon, Dave and Ryan. Goodbyes to family members and friends. Hugs
all around.
And we're off.
It was snowing in Akron when we arrived, but the Lime Spider was all abuzz as
we tried out new songs for the first time. There was a skating rink across
the road with real after dark skaters. Folks from Germany had set up a
semi-circle of tents and were selling their crafts and passing out hot mulled wine. The
whole evening could have taken place in one of those little snow globes we
used to shake up as children. It was all true: We were on the road at Christmas
time.
Ann Arbor was as festive as ever. The shops around the club were all staying
open till midnight and from note one it felt as if the sold-out crowd at The
Ark was ready to hop aboard some imaginary train. Once again we were surprised
by how the unique electricity of an audience has so much to do with the way
the music feels, and our evening in Ann Arbor was truly a highlight of the tour.
Thanks to all of you who shared that night with us.
On to two sold-out shows at one of our new favorite venues in America: The
Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. This 400-seat theater is one of the
most intimate we've found and is run mostly by dedicated volunteers. The folks
at Old Town had a grand piano waiting for us on stage, and welcomed us with
open arms to one of America's great music towns. Hard to imagine a better way to
spend a Saturday night…
We made the trek to Des Moines through the bitter cold and reminisced about
our trip to Iowa in a blizzard years earlier to open for Bob Dylan. This time
around we had no idea what to expect at Vaudeville Mews on a Sunday night with
below zero temperatures. The venue was packed with folks from not only frozen
Iowa, but a smattering of surrounding states as well. Wow. There they all
were, bundled up stylishly, ready for something good. And yes, at least one person
said they had seen us at that Bob Dylan show in Ames years ago, and had kept
an ear out for the music ever since.
During the show in Des Moines there was a couple standing right in front of
the stage that would occasionally lean into each other while the music got
itself made. I offer them this scribbled snapshot:
Everybody Is Sick Of Love
Except for the girl dancing slowly
Folded in the arms
Of her gentle boy
Her eyes closed in precious disbelief.
So I am watching the joy on her face,
You have never seen such pure peace and delight,
Because if you had,
Your eyes would have been closed too.
(Or maybe you have seen.)
But thanks to her,
This broken world was briefly mended
For one fleet night before it ended.
***
A lovely listener whisked us off to her specialty cheesecake restaurant in
the morning for brunch and spoiled us all with a table full of fine food that
had been (in the words of my mother) “made with love” and it was like sharing a
family meal together. Our sound engineer, Dave Foreman, had celebrated his
50th birthday on the road in Des Moines, so the timing couldn't have been
better. (Dave's nickname is TDJ: Too Damn Juicy. Once you get to know him, you can
just call him Too Damn, for short.)
Dave has toured with quite an impressive number of influential American
musicians and songwriters, and he is fond of commenting that he has never seen a
community of fans who were so open, who wanted to connect with the music and
each other so deeply. Dave says songs are prayers we've been given for when our
wounds are too deep to speak. He really believes that the connections made
through music (and prayer) are what holds this ol' universe together. He really
loves being around all y'all and wanted you to know.
After brunch, we drove North to Minneapolis from Des Moines and the
temperature dropped with every mile and the thermometer was empty by the time we
arrived - the mercury had disintegrated. But the Fine Line filled up with warm
bodies, and we lived that longed-for sensation of coming in out of the cold to a
clean, well-lighted place where music was going to sweep us away somewhere
hopefully unimagined. We got to share a quick supper with some new friends - Doug
Pagitt and his wife. We talked about holistic medicine and food and adopted
families and…
And then it was on to Madison where I got to reconnect with an old friend, a
painter that we met at an Irish Pub in Dubuque years ago. Tom and I went out
for a Thai meal together and ordered the five course feast (Surprise us!) and
talked of all the things we cared most about, our families, our life's work,
where we were now and where we longed to be, the many good things we'd been
given so far. Tom Metcalf is an American Artist bursting at the seams with energy
and ideas, and he has the facility of a fine Renaissance Painter. It's all
beautifully contagious. After the concert we smoked our aromatic cigars and
lifted our glasses and Tom's not worried that he has to be in front of his college
art students in the morning back in Dubuque because they need to feel this
coming from him - his willingness to be up all night staying keen, wrapping his
arms around the gift of being alive.
Then we knew it was going to start snowing, and we had to drive to
Indianapolis, and we grabbed our coffees and green teas in the morning and made ghosts
with our breath. If we're not traveling on a bus, I promised Karin long ago I
would always drive if we ever got into bad weather on tour since I grew up for
some years in Montana and went to school in Alberta and then my parents did
some time in Northern Minnesota and I know all about driving in the snow. And
after school in Alberta I worked for a Mennonite farmer and the cows were so
calm as they streamed into the barn and calmly found their assigned stanchions.
And every evening after school I backed a trailer about 150 feet through a
narrow passageway to where the silage was stored. Little did I know that starting
a band one day would involve backing a trailer which to my surprise I realized
I knew how to do virtually in my sleep. One wonders from time to time if
everything that happens is preparing us for something later in life.
So we studied the atlas and decided to bypass Chicago and I drove the nine
hours to Indianapolis with snow falling heavily almost all the way. And we
pulled up to the hotel and it was laughter and gladness all around, we'd made it,
we were alive, and there was still time to get a warm dinner. And Devon got to
pile off for a night or two in his own bed.
And we had a good crowd at The Music Mill, but some nights it's impossible
for us to tell whether an audience is really tuned in or not, it's almost as if
there is a veil between the audience and the stage, and we're trying to rip it
open, but we can't seem to break through. But from what we could tell in the
end, the music was getting through, we just weren't sure at first.
In Columbus, we were sure, because Little Brothers, although the
quintessential dive, was packed and the crowd was wound up tight ready to burst, standing
shoulder to shoulder right in front of the stage and shouting out little
tidbits of encouragement, and we remembered what that felt like.
So then it was home to the farm for a few days to celebrate Karin's birthday
which we did and then of all the possible developments, we lost Karin's voice
there for a spell and thought we were going to have to explain to a few
thousand people that our hometown concert was going to have to be rescheduled due to
a singer with no sing. But a couple of trips to the doctor and a specialist
here and a referral there and some prayer for help tossed into the mix and
bless her heart she got it back just a little at a time and got through the night
and it felt like the best Taft Show yet. And holy smokes this audience of
ours: replaces stolen guitars for us, shows up with 26 dozen white roses for
Karin, and converges on this historic theater to pack it to the rafters. And in
fact, as we travel from town to town, we are humbled by little gift baskets of
goodies left on stage, the occasional bottle of wine, a carefully selected book
with a personal inscription, handwritten notes, tiny surprises slipped to us
again and again as if to say, Keep it up. You're not alone. We've found each
other. In some mysterious way, this all matters.
Thank you.
And thanks to Amy Rigby for joining us on this special night. And thanks to
Kim Taylor for an amazing year - for all that singing and for the laughter. We
made it and covered a lot of good miles together. From the departure point of
a few Grey Ghost rehearsals, we found our way to both oceans, saw some coastal
Redwoods, played Manhattan twice, poked around Florida, and ended up in front
of that amazing crowd at The Taft none the worse for the wear. Not bad.
And then for a little something extra Karin and I had offered an invitation
to gather at St. Elizabeth's in Norwood the day after the Taft. And Ryan
cleaned that ragged old cathedral, and Krystal decorated, and Drew and Wendy took
care of the food and wine, and Jody helped us with the coffee, and Brandon and
Dave made everything else go, and we actually threw a little party. Some words,
some music, some conversation. It was really great to connect with those of
you who could make it. This is something we'd like to start doing at the end of
every year.
We finished out the year in Nashville and were delighted when Buddy Miller
hopped up on stage and sat in with us at the end of our set. We'd love to do
some dates together with him sometime. He and Julie are special folks. Thanks to
all of you who made the effort to join us for this rescheduled date. Sorry
once again about the change in plans. And it was awful nice to see Dave Perkins
(our partner in crime when we recorded Films For Radio) and his sons Max and
Jack - have a little sit down at Fido. And to check in with our occasional
side-kick Wade Jaynes.
A lot of memories, and a lot of music…
So, if you were there and want a little keepsake, or if you weren't able to
join us and want to get a little taste of what you missed, it's not too late to
order the commemorative, limited edition CD that we're putting together. It's
always an adventure to try to bottle live performances, but we think you'll
enjoy this document of a tour that brought to a close a great year. (Check out
overtherhine.com.) Thanks again to Rick and Devon for their inspiring
musicianship and friendship. It was a lot of fun to hear how the songs on Drunkard's
Prayer blossomed on the road. Thanks again to Brandon and the rest of the crew
for helping make it all happen.
We're going to lay low now for a couple of months to write and recover. We'll
start the year officially in March with a couple of “firsts” for Over the
Rhine: Our first tour of New Zealand as a band, and our first-ever appearances
at SXSW in Austin. More on all this soon…
(Oh, and I guess there will be a couple of small appearances in February.
Just a teaser or two.)
Another first in 2006: Karin and I will be leading our first songwriting
workshop in Santa Fe the first week of August. (The Glen Workshop is hosted every
year by Image Journal at St. John's College.) So if you know of a budding,
aspiring songwriter who might want to join us, or if you're just someone who
loves music who wants to observe, keep us in mind. It's a stunning setting, and a
great group of people. More details on this soon as well.
Finally, thanks to those of you who signed up at the shows to sponsor a child
through World Vision. If you're interested in helping us meet our goal of
getting 200 kids sponsored through the Over the Rhine community, please e-mail
OTRhine at aol.com. Please note, all of you who e-mailed before the tour or during
the tour, I had those e-mails in a folder that I was planning on responding to
when things got a little quieter. Alas, the folder is gone. PLEASE E-MAIL
AGAIN and I will respond with a personal note of thanks and get your e-mail
forwarded to the right person. Again, for the equivalent of a couple of CD's a
month ($30) we can provide clean water, a support structure and an education for a
child directly effected by the AIDS crisis in Africa. Please join us.
We wish you all the best in this coming year.
Peace,
Linford for Over the Rhine
PS Happy significant birthday to Bill today!
PPS I've heard rumors that Karin is working on a post-tour letter as well.
Don't say we never write…
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