[OTR Announce] Rambling Tour Diary - And a Glimpse of 2006

[Announcement list for the band Over The Rhine]

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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