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Tuesday November 3, 2009

Worcester was fun. A huge thank you to those who made those shows. What a great time. I really enjoyed Tammany Hall. For me there's no time of year I love better than Fall, especially October. To be able to spend a weekend in New England in October was a real treat. And it snowed. Twice. It's been nearly 8 years since I moved to California but I'm still pretty sure in all my years in New England it never snowed that early. That kind of set the tone for the weekend for me. Arriving in Boston at 5AM, driving in the snow, pulling into what I thought was the hotel but was really some kind of medical center, finding the real hotel, the hotel allowing us (I was traveling this time with a friend, my co-worker Bodie who wanted to tag along for a weekend and see what it was all about) an early check-in, trying to catch a few hours sleep, waking up to phone calls from work, getting up to meet the guys and soundcheck for several hours, all of that contributed to what I felt was one of our more focused and enjoyable musical weekends in a long time. We've got a lot of new songs we are working on, plus we have so many great songs that Erik recorded for his solo CD. Over time I'll post some of the demos we're working on in the Music page. Our plan is to eventually get into a real studio and record because it is way overdue. For a long time I was on the fence about going into the studio because I wasn't sure of the format. Do we release a CD, record some singles and release them separately? I was reading a Beatles book recently (the one by Geoff Emerick is a captivating read if you're into the technical side of making records) and it reminded me that back then it was all about singles, much like today's digital market. A band would record a single, release it on 45, and then make an album but often (at least in the Beatle's case) not include the single in the record. I love the idea of singles but I also love the idea of a whole album or CD that you can hold that has cover art and liner notes. I'm still not sure what the product we put out will be but I think it'll be all of the above.

I've got a somewhat more immediate project on the burner at the moment, though . I'm back home settling in and preparing for the Big Arrival. Amber is due to give birth on November 10th but it feels like it could be any minute. We are both looking very much forward to the big day. Thanks to everyone who has asked after Amber. At this point we're packed and ready for the hospital at a moment's notice.

It'll be some months until the next Strangefolk concert. Stay tuned here from time to time for sneak peeks at demos.

Sunday August 02, 2009

Back in February I got an email from Reid asking if I'd like to contribute to the album he was working on, an album of duets with several artists called "Some Assembly Required." Up to that point I had been working with Patchen on a project of writing and recording songs between New York and California. He and Jen had come out to CA on business in September and during that time he made several trips to my place. We also had tickets to the Outside Lands festival so we had a lot going on that weekend. Between Radiohead, Beck, Wilco, Jack Johnson, Mike Gordon and several other memorable sets we managed to record the basic tracks for the song "Don't Play Me," which he and Erik had performed in the Windfalls. I've always been a fan of using technology as a means and an end. The idea of writing songs, recording simple demos at home, passing those demos along via the internet, expanding on ideas and arriving at a final product has so much appeal to me because it's a viable way to make artistic progress in this age. It is born from living 3000+ miles from my musical partners; in other words, born of necessity, but also born of a love for tinkering. The guys in the band know my catchphrase for this process as "Glorified Demos."

Reid's invitation came at a perfect time when I'd been working on my home recordings, the record light was always blinking, and I was eager to put the whole glorified demo idea to the test. The track he chose was "Crest of My Wing," one of the first songs he and I assimilated into our performances as the newly minted "Strange Folk" in 1991 or so. Actually, I've got some posters kicking around from those days that suggest we were called nothing more formal than "REID Genauer and Jon TRAFTON" (the capitalized being the names by which people seemed to know us best) during the era that this song was incorporated into our setlist. The naming isn't as important as the fact that this song goes back to Day One for us as a musical entity. This is also the first song of ours where I dared to open my mouth and sing harmonies, for better or worse. I really fell in love with harmonizing on vocals and having a wonderful venue to stretch out on guitar solos with the early-era Strangefolk. I owe Reid a debt of gratitude for putting up with it, especially when no one was listening but us. For the studio version I tried to honor the guitar and vocal heritage of our united roots in Strangefolk. I think this version is true and different enough to honor its history as well as our collective input some 6,570 days later. That's 18 years for those of you counting.

Reid wrote an essay about the song and about the beginning of our musical friendship on the promo mailer for "Some Assembly Required." It is a chapter of my life that I am intensely proud of and it pleases me to join forces with my old friend so many years later. Good music can be made at a remove but it requires the love and respect of the music makers to stand up. I hope you enjoy Crest of My Wing as much as we enjoyed reconnecting and working together. My best wishes to Reid on the success of "Some Assembly Required."

Recording tracks for Crest of My Wing, Feb. 2009.

Sunday June 28, 2009

I have had some amazing opportunities in my lifetime. I've been blessed to spend many years traveling in the United States and beyond, visiting countless wonderful places, and meeting a long cast of colorful characters. I've got some great stories from that journey and I hope to amass many more. I kept a steady journal from about 1991 to 2000, mostly because I enjoy writing and I used to have a lot of time on my hands. I still occasionally write and, more recently, draw in it but I don't know that I'll ever record another episode this improbable.

In light of Michael Jackson's passing last week I felt compelled to pull that journal out and hunt for this story so I could share the details as I recorded them on May 13, 1999. I have added extra details and modified as needed but what follows is the story, as written in a letter to a good friend who was recuperating from an illness. I hope you enjoy.

So here's one for you. I had dinner with Michael Jackson on Thursday night. (April 29th). I told you I'd wait until I had a good story to tell you in your infirm state and now I have one. I'll start from the beginning.

Intro: Why?

My [ex] girlfiend's (her name is Sarah N) father works for [nationally known toy store] as an executive. Michael Jackson is really into kids and toys and such, as we all know, and he has been interested in working with [toy store] for a long time. Sarah's dad has met with him two other times to hear his ideas.

In December I was in CA and came within one day of going to MJ's ranch near Santa Barbara to ride roller coasters and play with elephants but it didn't work out due to his scheduling conflicts. So I knew the possibility was out there somewhere that I might actually meet the guy.

Chapter 1: Have You Seen The Matrix?

So here's the scene. He came to Sarah’s house in NJ. There were nine of us. He came with two business managers and one of their sons. Then there were Sarah's parents, another [toy store] executive, and me.

Let me begin with his entrance. I'd envisioned what this moment would be like ever since Sarah’s parents invited us over for this dinner. I pictured him gliding in on a forward moonwalk stride right up over the steps and into the entrance where he’d whip off a couple of quick dance moves, extend his coat out to his assistant, and disappear in a puff of smoke. It wasn’t that way at all. We were busy preparing dinner and awaiting a call from his security team who were in a separate vehicle advancing the route. We got a call that they’d be arriving in 10 minutes and that Michael’s van would be 5 minutes behind that. This is really happening. The front door was a heavy wooden door with a small glass window situated so that you could see the circular driveway. As the first van pulled up we snuck peeks out the window at it. It was his security detail, getting out, scoping the surroundings. I’d been telling myself I’d believe it when I saw it and it was clear I was about to see it for real.

Leading up to this moment I’d been helping in the kitchen, stirring the risotto I’d been working on. About 30 minutes prior I’d been rummaging in some cabinets for salt or something and completely forgot that I left the cabinet door open. Later I looked up suddenly and my forehead met the corner of the door. It was a jarring impact that created a big welt with a bloody center. I could feel a giant egg bump tightening on my forehead like a third eye. I was hoping this injury was one of those that feel worse than it looks but a quick trip to a mirror proved otherwise. Not much I could do at this point. The signal went off that a vehicle had entered the driveway. We rushed to the door, jostling for a look out the small window. The moment had certainly arrived: Up the driveway came a black conversion van that was done up sort of like a limo, sort of like a hearse. It looked heavily fortified. The van pulled up and came to a stop, Mr. N opened the front door of the house, and I saw a few heads milling around outside. Then there he was, stepping out of the van and walking toward the house. What followed was most surreal. Buddy, the friendly but big and loud yellow lab, couldn’t contain his excitement to greet the new guests. When the door opened he surged forward to the threshold while Mrs. N and crew tried to stop him from jumping up on everyone. Little did any of us know that MJ is scared of dogs. But he is, indeed, and the first sight I caught of him was a backward lunge out the door and to his immediate right, behind a hedge. I thought I was witnessing something that all people who’ve met Michael Jackson in private know: that he’s one eccentric dude, far crazier than you see on TV. When he finally did come in and the dog still hadn’t been detained he backed up against the wall and shuffled around the circular foyer, followed closely by a very curious Buddy who was trying to sort this guy out the only way he knew how: by nosing straight for his ass. I thought Michael was trying to hide in the coat rack out of crippling shyness until he said Buddy, “almost gave me a heart attack. I’m terrified of dogs.” It’s Buddy? This whole thing happened so fast it really didn’t register with anyone. We quickly got Buddy out of there and things settled down.

That episode was so distracting that it sort of diffused the intensity of the initial meeting. Still, it is difficult to describe the sensation of standing next to Michael Jackson. I mean, we're not talking about a normal human here. He was dressed in all black with a red swath around his right bicep. He had totally opaque, black sunglasses on and high pants with white socks and loafers. His face was very white, caked in makeup, and he had lipstick on. I noticed he had huge hands. I also noticed that while his hands where quite light his fingernail beds were not. Another noticeable attribute was that both sides of his nose appeared to have been filled in by some putty-like makeup, almost like spackle. He may be a superstar but I felt more like we'd captured some kind of exotic animal or alien. The first thing he said to me was, “ouch,” while signaling to my forehead. Oh yeah, that. I’d almost forgotten.

After introductions he loosened up and relaxed and we all hung around sipping drinks and chatting for about a half hour. Picture me and Michael sitting on a couch side by side talking about music, writing, performance, etc. etc. It was so weird. He seemed really glad to to talk someone about music and the whole creative process (Yeah, and meanwhile I’ve written about 15 songs in my life). We asked him all kinds of questions he asked us all kinds of questions. He told us about his new record that he’d been working on for a year and his plans for the millennium. He said he was planning something for two continents, whatever that means. We’ll see soon enough. I thought it funny that everyone around Burlington talks about our local heroes, Phish, and what they will be doing at the turn of the century. Suddenly that seemed small. Here’s one of the most famous figures of this century discussing his plans for the big event. He asked me all about Strangefolk. It was great to hear him say “Strangefolk” kind of to himself after I told him our name. When would I have ever imagined I’d be telling Michael Jackson what MY band was called? He also asked what I played and when I said guitar he asked if I played acoustic or electric. I thought it was interesting that he’d make the distinction and ask. I wonder if he caught the “folk” insinuation in the band name. We talked about lots of musician topics: being nite-owls, writing your best music in the middle of the night, the art of improvisation, how inspiration arrives, and many other things. He was impressed that we make our jams up as we go, like a jazz band. He could only relate to charting everything out specifically. Of course, he was oblivious that there is a music scene devoted to the improvisational approach.

I was totally impressed that he seemed so interested in being there and talking with all of us. Of course, he’s a total pro – he’s been in people’s living rooms like a specimen, making small talk his whole life. Come to think of it, though, he actually did want to be there – to talk biz with Sarah’s dad – so I guess it wasn’t like he was fielding media questions. Just as we were about to go into the next room for dinner he turned to me abruptly and asked if I’d seen The Matrix. I had and told him I liked it. He said he’d go on my recommendation. That’s me, always giving the stars good advice. I added that Keanu Reeves’ acting was as stiff as always which was met with a blank stare. I realized I might be panning one of his buddies. Later Sarah and I asked him if he wanted to go see it that night. Of course this would entail buying out an entire cinema and who knows what kind of capers. He said he’d love to but had early sessions in the city. Figured we’d at least ask.

So then we ate dinner. We had salmon, risotto, green beans, and salad. Man, I can’t believe Mrs. N could handle the pressure of what to feed the King of Pop. As we lined up to plate our food, buffet style, he leaned to me and told me to go first because he wasn’t sure what to do. It was amazing to see how like a little child he is. He dropped his fork on the floor once and just laughed. He ate it all, though, and had seconds of the risotto. He ate his salad with his fingers. He did manage to drink two glasses of wine with no problems. I was kind of hoping he’d bust loose and start singing and dancing but the closest we got was him doing an impression of his Neverland elephants waving their trunks when he approached to feed them. Even doing this we got a taste of the hallmark Michael Jackson grace.

The dinner conversation was interesting if a bit jumbled due to the Q & A format. He was asked who his favorite performers were/are. He said Sammy Davis Jr. was one of his tops. The other answers were fed to him by his manager. I know James Brown was one but I forgot the rest. He lamented that there are no more entertainers like the old school. He talked about living next to Fred Astaire and seeing him every day when he was a young man and just moved to Beverly Hills. He said he was a very special friend and that they did a lot of TV together in the early days. He said that Fred Astaire told him he was going to be a huge star and he laughed bashfully. Yeah, I think Fred called it. We touched on the subject of the Beatles and I thought it was interesting that he didn’t know the name of “Here Comes the Sun,” but he mentioned that song as a favorite. He owns the Beatles catalog – I thought how uncomfortable it would be for me to give him shit about buying it out from under Paul McCartney in the 80s, after Paul advised him that publishing was where the money is. [There were other uncomfortable topics we could have touched upon but no one would have dreamed of going there. This was after one scandal had happened and been brushed under the rug but before the BIG scandals.] He also told us about being in the Jackson 5 in Vegas back when you couldn’t go anywhere unless you were 18. He said he was a prisoner in his hotel rooms and hated it. Because of that, he said, he dreamed up all the ideas you see in Vegas today – the roller coasters, the family vibe – he claimed that he was the architect of all of those ideas, that people would fly him to Vegas to consult on his ideas, and that Vegas is the way it is today because of him.

We talked about the Thriller tour because that’s when Mr. N took Sarah’s older sister to see him the first time. He talked about how the stage was the only comfortable place for him. He talked about performing and how he saw thousands of kids having the same reaction to the same music all over the world. He said, “They all cry at the same moments, they all laugh at the same moments, and they all wave their arms at the same moments.” You hear talk about how love and music are universal languages but to hear it coming from this guy held special weight. He could speak about the music but he was very intent on hearing how people in the room met their significant others. He seemed fascinated by the small details. I realized he’s never had a normal relationship in his life. He’s been so famous for so long he doesn’t know the simple boy meets girl story except at a remove. I don’t think he knows any normal human interactions. He talked about his kids some. His son and my brother share a birthday. More small talk.

At some point later he quickly looked at his wrist as if checking a watch. Like clockwork his people jumped. It was time to wrap dinner and talk business.

Chapter 2: Strangefolk Anyone?

After dinner his manager asked if I had a Strangefolk CD on hand that I could give to MJ, explaining that he loves to check out what young musicians are up to these days. Of course, I did not have a CD. I told him I’d go check in my car and be right back. MJ and Mr. N were behind closed doors for a bit, talking business so Sarah and I flew down to Tower Records and rifled the racks for Strangefolk. Perfect, we found Weightless in Water. It’s the only time I’ve ever bought one of my own CDs. I was thinking the clerk would probably think it was weird that I was buying my own CD if he’d known I was in Strangefolk but I doubt he would have been very impressed. But even his jaded record shop worldview would have been jolted had he known Michael Jackson was a few blocks away hanging out and that we were buying it for him.

Back at the house I presented Michael with the CD. The only time in the entire evening I actually saw his eyes was when he lowered his glasses to read the liner notes. He seemed genuinely interested. He even pulled the CD out of the jewel case and laughed at the picture of Erik that we put there, purely for comic value. He asked me to sign it. I laughed but he was serious. I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life. One thing I sort of regret is not asking him for his autograph but I thought it would be cooler for him not to be asked. I’m sure he wouldn’t have cared at all.

On the way out we took a few pictures. There was a technical difficulty with a camera which he was the only one able to fix. We snapped our shots , said some parting words, he made his way to the van, waved, and disappeared. Three body guards followed and the van zipped away into the night.

The next day we noticed that the flower gardens under the windows looking into the dining room had been trampled and littered with cigarette butts. Nice touch. The guards were hovering over our entire dinner party from outside, ready to drop anyone who lifted a hand against MJ. The things they must have seen over the years.

Chapter 3: Ten Years Later.

A few weeks after the dinner some prints arrived in the mail. I have kept one in a drawer for all these years, occasionally emailing a copy to a friend for shock value. One thing we all discussed after he left was that it seemed inevitable he would not live long. He looked so far from normal and healthy.

Here is my picture from that night. It isn't the best pic I've seen of myself, though the bump on my forehead had mellowed out by the time we stood for this pose. I think I was in the middle of saying something (hurry up already and take the ffffff-click-ucking picture!) because we were having camera troubles and I had no idea when the shutter was about to click. Because of that we were standing there in that pose for quite a few minutes, making little jokes. Michael seemed totally at home and held his pose perfectly the whole time. Looking at the pictures later, he appeared exactly the same in every frame. Obviously he knew exactly how to control this aspect very well. It was a special night and I’m very thankful to have this picture as a memento.

I hope you enjoyed reading about this episode as much as I enjoyed reminiscing. We'll talk again soon.

Take care,

Jon

September 9, 2008

Hi Friends,

First, a quick update. I noticed on Thursday that our strangefolk site is down. Our good friends Steve Seremeth and PJ Mattson helped with the creation and maintenance of the site for years, but I'd say - with a degree of chagrin - that website has been drifting at sea with no captain at the wheel for quite a few years. It's like a backyard that has overgrown with weeds. I keep meaning to get motivated and bring the site into the modern century but I keep getting derailed by other stuff. This new site crash may be just the thing to get me off my ass and spiff it up. Don't hold your breath, though, okay?

Amber and I trekked up to Anchorage in June and had a great time with the Team in Training half marathon. It was during the summer solstice so the sun barely went down at night. We had a great hotel room on the corner of the 15th floor, looking out over the mountains and Cook Inlet. It was hard to put ourselves to bed with the sun shining like it was 5pm when it was 11pm. Then, on race day, it rained in torrents. It was so cold. I rented a mountain bike and followed the race and got drenched. I've got some video footage that I'm putting together so hopefully I'll be able to share that on the site. Thanks to all of you who donated to the cause. There were many of you from the SF community who chipped in. The community surrounding the band has always been a point of pride and it showed strong, once again, with this race. It gave me an excellent excuse to revisit Alaska (first trip was summer '93, just as the band was officially forming into a 4 piece), Amber an excellent experience, and ultimately, a good deal of money going straight to the cause - fighting cancer and helping families cope with expenses.

Speaking of torrential rain, we were all very disappointed that we got rained out at the Vibes. We've done the festival 13 times or so and there have been many times when the rain actually stopped for our set. The time finally came for us to be bumped by a storm and, boy, what a storm. I guess if you're going to get pushed it might as well be a full blown hurricane that does it. We did manage to squeeze in a fun 30 minute set for the few who got word of the where and when.

I'm not sure when our next appearance is happening but I think we're looking into Halloween at the moment. Stay posted. We're also planning for the holiday season so hopefully something fun will come of that. In the meantime go check out Russ jamming with Trey on the Northern Exposure tour. It's great to know the classic TAB is back in action.

Be well, everyone. Thanks for stopping by.

ps. Here are some pics from Alaska

Anchorage & Seward AK - June 2008

February 3, 2008

Happy New Year to you. I hope you had a nice holiday season. Out here in California it already feels like spring is coming. I celebrated the Super Bowl by breaking into a nice 10-pack "Microbrews of America" thing I bought last week and running back and forth to the grill in a t-shirt and winter scarf. The scarf was mainly a prop to make my wife laugh; it was quite warm and sunny and I was kind of buzzed.

No one was laughing back home (Maine) when I called, as the Patriots were losing...then winning...then lost the Superbowl. I'm not a football fan but I was rooting for them all the way. None of my office squares worked out either. I was hoping to win the big bucks and looking forward to gloating over it tomorrow at our staff meeting. Oh well.

Okay, two big things on the horizon - we've got shows coming up in March! I'm really excited about this. I had to throw in the towel after my October hospital stay but I'm feeling ready for some travel and music now. I brought my min-Les Paul to my office to do some practicing during the day. It has elicited a laugh from everyone who's seen it. I think it's cool but maybe I'm biased. The thing I love about that little guitar is that it sounds great plugged in. Doesn't keep in tune very well but it has a nice tone. I got it years ago to practice in the van. I've noodled on that thing from here to there to everywhere.

Speaking of here to there, my wife has signed up to run a marathon in Alaska this June. It's a sponsored race and the proceeds go The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. It's a great cause doing great things for cancer research. We've got a great friend who is a survivor of Leukemia and, as many of you know, I have been through a trial with colorectal cancer. We all know folks who have survived and those who have not. I'm still on the fence about whether I can actually do the race but Amber jumped off the fence and decided to go for it. I'll be her wing man for the trip, training along with her and documenting the whole thing as we go along. Please visit Amber's Team in Training page and contribute anything you can. We both truly believe this is a worthy organization and an extremely important cause. Your dollars will be going toward improving the quality of life for people going through this awful disease.

We will see you in Boston on March 21 & 22. Think Spring!

December 22, 2007 (written on 12/14 but unable to post until 12/22)

Hi friends,

Best wishes to all of you this holiday season. I hope you’re doing well and feeling the spirit. I know I am. I just celebrated my birthday yesterday with my new wife and I have much to celebrate. I am happy and healthy and enjoying each day. One large void in this year’s holiday season is the absence of Strangefolk. It’s an unfortunate omission in our collective calendar and I am the cause, the fall guy, the reason we’re not doing anything. It’s not because I’m not into it or wouldn’t love to strap on my guitar and turn my amp up loud. No, the truth is much more mundane, yet borne of necessity. I returned from my honeymoon in October and was home for about five days when I ran into some stomach issues. It wasn't the water in Mexico but sort of indirectly related. I took so much medication to ward off any Montezuma problems over the course of a week that I wore my system out and my stomach went to sleep instead of going into turista mode. This same thing happened to me a bunch of times while I was undergoing chemo. Basically, your gut stops digesting and everything you eat and drink goes in reverse until you’ve been turned inside out. It’s extremely painful and there’s no drug or procedure that can fix it. You just have to wait it out. The catch is that it requires a constant IV drip to keep you flush with fluids so you can’t just stay home and lay in bed hoping it’ll go away. People die from it if they don’t get fluids administered. It's one of those things that's not incredibly serious but will be if you don't go to the doctor. So, I dragged my ass to the hospital in the middle of the night and ended up in the hospital for four days. CT scans and X-rays and being prodded and poked and eating jello and pudding and chicken broth was the regime. I got some good reading and thinking done and came out of the experience determined to take “it” down a notch. For me that means no gigs for the foreseeable future. This was a serious reminder that I’m not out of the woods yet.

That said, I have no intention of stopping music in my life. Strangefolk is air and water to me. I’ve been saddled with some pretty heavy realities in the last few years and things haven’t been the same since. It could be disheartening but I don’t go there. I’m lucky as hell to be here right now typing to you. Missing some gigs, missing some parties, missing my old friends is tough but I’d rather be here to miss it than not be here. For that I’m sad but I’m celebrating being alive, healthy, and happy.

Here’s to a happy holiday season filled with warmth and love. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, have a great New Year.

June 2, 2007

Last weekend at StrangeCreek was a great time. Thanks to the Wormtown family for having us and thanks to all of you who made it such a success this year.

I think it's necessary to shed some light on my last entry. I seem to have scared or at least confused a lot of people with what I wrote. First off, I love Strangefolk and I don't ever want to stop doing it. It's so much fun and I feel so blessed to have such a great thing in my life. I can't do it as much as I used to and I can't do much about that. That's pretty much all I was saying. Also, some freinds thought I was somehow saying that I was sick again. I think by now if you've read any of these posts you know it's not really my style to leave cryptic hints for you to figure out. I'm pretty direct in my communication. I go in for checkups every four months and all I can say is so far so good. In my situation, unfortunately, that's about as good as it gets for quite a few years. But right now, as far as I know, all is well.

I've made some friends I probably never would have met as a result of my cancer ordeal. One friend, a fan of the band, Nathan Long, is going through a second round of chemo for a tumor recurrence his doctors discovered. His inital treatment began around the time mine was ending. We've been in email contact since that time. It's tough when a fellow traveler goes back into the trenches and I just want to send good thoughts and prayers to him. He was just honored two weeks ago by the Brain Tumor Society for his outstanding efforts and spirit while participating in their Ride for Research. I know he's been an active member of the message boards and many of you know him from his presence there. The love and caring I felt pouring out from our Strangefolk community was a huge spiritual factor for me while undergoing the whole treatment experience. Send your thoughts Nathan's way.

It's time to begin working on some live stuff. Patchen has been hard at work picking out tunes for another release and now it's my turn to dive in and begin the piecing-together process.

I'll be in touch soon. Take care.

April 1, 2007

Good Heavens, I haven't visited here since November. The room is empty. Is there anybody out there anymore? It's been a really busy few months for this kid. The same fates that conspired to kick my ass a few years back have gotten together again and seen fit to send me out into the working world. It's been a long long time since I've collected a regular paycheck, watched a chunk of it go straight to our government, gotten up early every morning, had to actually wear something presentable, tried to squeeze a life into the weekends, woken up with the Sunday Blahs. But that's where I am now and I gotta say I'm pretty okay with it. I really like the job a lot and "normalcy" feels kinda nice. I must be getting old.

So what is this job, you ask. I'm working at a software company in Napa, CA. We write software for wineries to help them run their tasting rooms and wine clubs so I am not only in the IT industry - a goal I've been working toward for a long time - but also in the wine industry by default. For me, not a bad combo.

April Fools, right? No. So where does this leave the band? Well, first, the job was necessary once I got past my treatment. I was extremely lucky to be able to take time off to get better because a lot of people don't have that luxury; however, the time finally came where I felt well enough to get up and move to the next phase. I moved back east briefly but that didn't work out for a few reasons and so after thinking about it 'til my head felt like it would explode I decided it would be wisest to go back to California where my health insurance has been golden. When you have something as serious as cancer in your medical history it's not as easy to jump around to different health care plans. You're kind of at their mercy. The other thing is that I can't ever really tour again, not the way Strangefolk used to do it. It's too much and I guess I'm a little more fragile than I thought. We'll still do gigs like we've been doing but I can't see us getting a lot busier. That led logically to me needing to find other means. I'm thankful that my new employers are such cool people and they understand the band thing and let me take time here and there to go make rock with my friends.

I hope Spring is beginning to do its thing wherever you may be. It's lovely here. I just spent the morning playing my guitar and drinking coffee out on the deck. No Sunday Blahs this weekend; it's too nice. By the way, my bro Scott coined that one - I can't steal it. I've got all these songs that I started writing while undergoing chemo. That is, when I could actually think and touch things that were made of metal - like my guitar strings - without feeling like I'd been zapped by some Martian ray [one of these times I'll tell more about those crazy months of chemo but not today]. Anyway, I've got a bunch of half-baked songs and I've been trying to work them out but hitting a wall every time. Today I think the clouds finally parted so that was nice. I hope to record some new demos soon and maybe I'll put something up on the music page.

Have a good one. I look forward to the next trip to Burlington and Maine. That sounds like the name of a train. Over and out.

November 14, 2006

Last week I celebrated one year of being done with chemo. I'm still not quite normal from that experience. My feet are still pretty much numb and will probably be for the rest of my life. Luckily my fingers have gotten better. When I first started doing shows again last year they were pretty numb, too, but guitar playing seemed to bring the life back to them. Maybe I'll start playing with my feet like a guy I once saw on TV. Luckily I don't trip over my feet and lose my balance like a drunkard anymore. That was a little weird in the beginning. I still have to go get tested all the time, which tends to temper these little anniversaries with pretty serious doses of reality but I guess the underlying thing is that I am here and we all have our crosses to bear and I'm really happy to be able to celebrate any little thing that comes along. Next one is my birthday, December 13, the day they let me out of the hospital from my last surgery. That's the last real milepost from this experience. After that it's all healing and moving on.

After our last round of shows I asked a lot of peope I ran into how they liked each one. As a fan of music myself I know what I like to see and hear at shows and it's been interesting to check in with people to see what they like. The overall conclusion I came away with was that everyone likes something completely different. That's no surprise, obviously, as we all have a certain set of ingredients that make for a great show, a shitty one, or the best one ever. I used to go to a lot of Phish shows back in the day and once, after a MSG show which I considered pretty lame, a few friends and I talked with Mike Gordon at a bar and he was talking about how the band loved that night and that they were really finding deep spaces for the slower songs and connecting on a band level. Being in a band myself I could understand his take on why the show was great but as a fan I was left wanting. I mean, you want the band you love to be psyched onstage but you want to be psyched in the audience even more. After all, you paid them to kick your ass, right? I completely understand.

I read the forums when I got home and wasn't surprised to read mixed reviews of Boston. I'd heard mixed reviews from the people I spoke with as well so this wasn't a surprise. I'm usually the set list guy but for the last run I tried something new. I had the guys tell me which songs of their own they'd like to sing and then I put it all in order. In Boston it took me all of dinner to work it out but I finally arrive at a sequence I felt good about. That's when Patchen took a look at it and said, "Let's do set 2 as set 1 and set 1 as set 2." So we just flipped it right then and there. I loved the spirit of that moment. I kind of laughed when I read some forum posts about x song appearing at such an odd time during the show, etc. It was cool. You guys know the ruts we get stuck in and you recognize when we're switching things up on you. I enjoy that; hopefully you're all ok with it, too. It is only music we're dealing with here after all. One thing I have to correct, though, is any impression that we saved ourselves for Portland. Boston and Portland are both great places to play and we'd never hold anything back. What really happened is that the sound onstage at the Paradise sucked for us and it was incredible in Portland. Sometimes that just happens. I hate to blame anything on the sound because I like to think we're professional enough to play through almost anything at a high level but the honest truth is that it does throw us off a little and that can dent your confidence a little. The way I always think of it is that, no matter what the setlist, if we play the hell out of it the night can be great. But sometimes you get thrown a curveball that's tough to recover from. At the Paradise I know we were having a lot of trouble hearing everything and I think we were playing by rote a little bit. On the other hand, there were some beautiful moments, like the jam during Take it Easy, where we spontaneously twisted the beat into a polyrhythmic groove. We got going on that and there was no clear resolution in sight but we managed to land on solid ground. To me that exemplifies what I love about this band. We're willing to drop out of the safe zone, even when things on stage aren't feeling all that comfortable in the first place, and see what happens. It's all about the trip. As for Portland, sometimes the muses hand out a freebie. The first moments on stage and the first notes we played felt electric. I wish we could make that happen every night but it's like catching lightning in a jar. I'm not even sure if what we played was all that great but I know it felt great to be there at the time playing music.

I'm really looking forward to our shows at Sunday River the first week of December. Strangefolk hasn't played there in ten years. There's nothing like the combination of music, skiing, and good friends. See you there, folks.

October 4, 2006

After the Gathering of the Vibes weekend my buddy Brett and I took a cross-country drive. We had our show in Plains, PA and we got up the next day and kept going west. We've both done more than a few x-country trips so we decided to slow down and take some alternate routes. First detour was down through Colorado and into the Moab Desert region of southeastern Utah. We took a few fun off-road diversions and got to see some pretty wild stuff. Then we proceeded through Nevada on route 50, known as "The Lonliest Road in America." The name was what drew us in. And the hope that we might see a UFO. The drive along this road was as promised. Hardly anybody and we were on it forever. No UFOs but lots of incredible vistas. Our drive took us through the Donner Pass and Lake Tahoe, across the central valley and into California wine country. We ambled through Napa and Sonoma and finally made it to my new place in Santa Rosa. It took me awhile to unpack all of my stuff but now I'm settled in and hopefully I'll keep up with this site better.

Now Eden.

Thanks everybody, for making this year's Eden so much fun. I just sat down to watch the 10 year overview on the site and actually applauded when it was over. Big thanks go out to PJ Mattson for putting that together which finesse. It worked, buddy; it gave me chills. Seeing something like that makes me remember what it's all about. Over the years being in this band has been amazingly challenging and difficult but also beautiful. Sometimes you get so close to something you can't make out the forest for the trees. Know what I mean? That's what happens with me and Strangefolk. I think back on all the years and it's overwhelming. I can pinpoint tiny little memories of a moment or sometimes I think in big chunks of time, phases we go through. There's always the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's a stressful life but it's wonderful, too. The video retrospective gives me a perspective that I don't have - that of a fan. It makes me think of all the great songs and grooves and in-the-moment-never-to-be-repeated improvisations that we've put out into the ether. It makes me think of the road trips we all take to the destination, the meetings with friends at whatever bar, restaurant, hotel. The pre-show ritual. The excitement. Why we do this in the first place.

Eden for me was the culmination of nearly a year of hard work getting ourselves back together as a band and getting my self back together as a person. These are both works in progress but Eden was a nice milestone along the way. For me it was considering where I was last year at that time. I was in Chico, CA swerving between feeling okay and terrible as I did my run of days on and off chemo. It makes me ill to think about it. Luckily I can't really remember a lot of it that well. They called it the lost year and they were right. So now, to be back fresh off of a successful and incredibly fun Eden it feels good to be back doing what we like to do and doing a good job of it.

So thanks to all of you who went to Eden and also to all of you who've come to shows this past year. It's been a lot of fun and I really appreciate you being there.

So what next? NYC and Burlington this weekend. I've got my bags packed and I'm ready to go. We'll see you there.

August 9, 2006

Jerry Garcia passed away on this date eleven years ago. A moment of silence.

Strangefolk held its first Garden of Eden on this date ten years ago in a small Vermont town by the name of Eden. It was in someone’s back yard. What a wonderful time it was. All we wanted to do was thank our fans for being there for us. 1996 was a watershed year for the band and we thought it would be fitting to throw a bash to celebrate. Over the years Eden remained the same: a place for us to relax and find our groove and for our family, friends, and fans to get together. The mission is still the same. When we started doing Eden jamband fests weren’t the norm. In fact, there was no such term as “jambands.” Now there’s a big festival every weekend of summer and the whole “jam” scene has grown to the point of being a given. Jerry Garcia, look at the seeds you have sown. Nice work.

It has been a while since I’ve written an update on my condition. I’ve spent the last eight months healing and, frankly, was too tired and overwhelmed and wiped out to talk about it. I hit a wall. This winter was difficult. The great thing is that I’m here and I’m feeling stronger and more back to normal with each passing month. This type of healing is measured in years. I’m far from being totally back to my old self. There’s good in that and there’s bad. I’ve lost some things and I’ve gained some. The main thing is I’m here and I’m moving along. That’s a lucky blessing.

And this year we've got our tenth Eden. I haven't worked it out yet but there's something about rounding out a decade of tradition on the eleventh year. With this band and all we've been through it's fitting that it would take eleven years to play our tenth annual Eden. Here's to many more years and many more Edens.

To you upstate NY and PA folks: Hope to see you at the Vibes and River St. Jazz Cafe.

Be well.

June 14, 2006

This image kind of sums up what I've been up to for the past few months. To read the postcard simply hover over the image. Click your mouse and you'll get page 2. See you next weekend. PS. If this doesn't work in your browser no sweat...the pic pretty much sums it up. Talk with you again soon. Jon (p.s. couldn't get it to work so now it's just the r.crumb piece, which does say it all.)

February 9, 2006

That run at the end of January was great. Thanks to Higher Ground, The Paradise, and the Pickle Barrel for being such great hosts and thanks to all of you who made the effort to get there and rock out with us. The folks at the Higher Ground greeted me with a huge VT gift basket. It was the best thing ever, filled with stuff made in one of the best states ever - Vermont. I can't tell you how much I've missed VT cheddar cheese. You can get it in CA but it costs about $7 a package so I hadn't tasted it in quite some time. Chocolates, wine, syrup, yeah! And as you can probably tell, I could use gaining a few pounds. This will help.

I was just poking around in the forums and got a laugh out of some of the stuff up there. Practice? Why would Strangefolk ever do that! We like to keep things fresh and practicing just kills the spontenaiety. I'm kidding. For those of you who are worried we might not ever make an effort to improve I just want to let you know that it was probably our main topic of conversation during the run. We were in a panic every night. You can ask the guys in Umelt. A few of us were supposed to jam with them at the Paradise but got caught up rehearsing in the band room for a few hours right up until our set began. The same thing happened at the Higher Ground. They were cool enough to let us load in at noon on Friday and play right through to the end of soundcheck. So, we did reahearse but it takes a lot to get 50 or so songs in good shape. And we've got a lot more than 50 songs to pull together. What felt good to me during the run was that we were really warmed up each night and the energy from the crowd was great. I left the weekend feeling really good that we actually made it through the shows. Man, let me tell you, I've got so much crazy shit going on I was just happy to have made it through that. But as we play more shows we'll be doing more rehearsals and hopefully writing more and moving ahead. It's been a year on hold for us and we're just excited to be able to play music in any capacity. Fear not, forum people, we will pull together in time - one day at a time, one show at a time.

Here are some pics from the road trip east. Like an idiot, I only took pictures on one day.

January 21, 2006

It's that time of month again and I'm forcing myself to get used to staying up late so I can handle the hours next weekend when we play our shows. I'm looking forward to the whole thing. It's been a busy winter for me. I had surgery in December to patch things up from my June procedure. I've been healing from that and now hopefully all the best parts of me are intact and the worst ones have been incinerated or shown to some pre-med students.

My girlfriend, Amber, and I started the new year by driving from California to New Hampshire. We're doing a little house sitting for my sister and her family so we thought we'd drive rather than fly. Everyone thought I was crazy but traveling like that is in my blood. I love going from city to city and checking out the sights. And this time there were no time constraints so we got to be tourists everywhere. We went to see Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monuments, the Badlands of South Dakota, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, ghost towns, all kinds of cool stuff. Being that it was winter, no one else was around. It was pretty cool to be the only ones looking at Mt. Rushmore one fine January morning. I'll post pics sometime when I get around to finding my camera in all my bags. For now, there's a weekend run of shows to pack for!

I can't wait to see the Higher Ground now that it's finished. It'll be good to see Burlington again. And Boston. And Killington. I'm bringing my skis, hoping I have the energy to hit the slopes at some point. See you there!

December 23, 2005

What a year of years this was for me. It was last Christmas Eve that I discovered I had a problem that might be pretty serious. And was it ever. That was the beginning of a surreal but also amazing ride and this year I'll celebrate that I pulled through with the hope of many more good years to come.

We'll see you at the end of January. It's going to be a fun run.

Happy holidays everyone. I hope you are surrounded by loved ones and happiness this year.

November 21, 2005

It's late and I'm up so I figure I'll sit down and write something in the ol' Jon's Room corner. I can't believe it's been a month since the Big Easy show. That was a lot of fun and I'm glad everyone was able to get together for it. It felt so good to get up and play some music with the guys. Truly cathartic after the year I've had. And it was also really nice to see so many familiar faces before, during, and after the show. Thanks to those of you who sent in Best Set Ever lists. They were all really great. In the end I used them all as an inspiration and confirmation for the list that I'd mentally worked out beforehand. Don't fret, though, if you spent a lot of time working on your set - there were some ideas in there that may just pop up at a later date.

The weekend of the show was also the weekend that my cousin Andy, the intrepid traveler, went to Austin, TX for the Lance Armstrong Ride for the Roses. 100 miles on a bike in one day. For a rundown of his experience check out his site at http://www.livestrong.smartneighborhood.net/. I know a lot of you were very generous with your sponsorship and I thank you for helping him help out a good cause.

After the show I went back to California and underwent my last chemo session. It's now clearing my system and I'm starting to feel pretty good again. In a few weeks I've got a small but significant procedure to reconnect all the things that were left dangling from my major surgery in June and that will be the end of the treatment phase and the beginning of getting my life back in order. I'm looking forward to being whole again.

The myspace experiment continues. I set up a page for Strangefolk and you can find it at http://www.myspace.com/strangefolkmusic. Head on over and join the friends list. I'm hoping to get everyone in the band involved so we can make it an interactive extension of the Strangefolk site. Erik's Place has been collecting dust for 378 days and counting. I'm thinking myspace will make it easier for everyone to chime in if they have anything they want to share.

Finally, I've been working on some music with a friend here in Chico. His name is Chris Shadt and he's been playing the scene here for many years. Most of the jamming I've done here over the years has been with Chris and his band. If you scroll down to the August entry below you'll see him in the band shot on the far right with the blue shirt on. Anyway, he's got some great songs and we decided to record a few this past week. Check out the music page to hear what we cooked up.

Have yourselves a very nice Thanksgiving and I'll check in later on.

October 13, 2005

Hi all,

Just a quick check in before next Friday's show. I'm sitting here getting ready - strumming the guitar, learning the songs that got rusty during this downtime. It's amazing how quickly some songs fall away and how others are stuck in your brain forever. Anyway, your "best set ever" contributions have been a lot of fun to read. We'll unleash the product of your efforts on Friday.

I can't wait to get back to Maine this week. Lots of family and friends to see and hopefully some good foliage, too. The icing on the cake is the gig on Friday. A year's worth of bottled up energy is about to bust loose. People get ready.

On a side note, I'm working on setting Strangefolk up on myspace.com. It's kind of an experiment to see what happens. I'll let you know when it's up. For now you can check out my page (http://www.myspace.com/jontrafton) and add yourself as a friend if you'd like. I haven't done anything with it yet but plan to make it an extension of this page with maybe more random entries and music.

See you in Maine.

September 27, 2005

Hello friends,

It's been a busy and fast flying month. I decided to skip out of town for a week to visit my brother in Montana for some fishing and relaxation. Much rather go fishing than stay at home and stare at the walls like I've been doing lately, so off I went to gaze at some Rocky Mtn beauty instead. Some good mountain air is just what I needed. My parents were there visiting, too, so it was a small family reunion. Very nice. And for once I finally caught a fish - a nice brown trout - worth taking a picture of.

My cousin Andy is in serious training for his Lance Armstrong Ride for the Roses in October. There has been an incredible show of support for his ride which is a wonderful thing. The Lance Armstrong foundation is a great resource for people like me who are working their way through this quagmire called cancer and need a place to find info, links, help, etc. I thank all of you who are sponsoring Andy and for those of you who are interested in sponsoring him here's the link to follow to his introductory letter and appropriate sponsorship links. He's past the $7,500 mark at this point, a goal he'd set but didn't think he'd make. I told him he'd nail it, just like I'm going to nail my situation. Now it would be great to see how far we can push him past his goal.

In Folkland we're getting ourselves on the same page to see about when we can play next. It might be sooner than you think. We'll be sure to let you know as soon as we nail any dates down.

In the meantime take care and so will I,

Jon

August 20, 2005

I'm sitting here listening to Strange Folk, the band from England that I mentioned back a few months ago. Fun stuff. The british Strange Folk stopped playing somewhere around 1990. About a year later the idea would dawn on me that Stange Folk would be a fitting name for the music Reid and I were playing. Since my inspiration sprang straight from the pages of Lord of the Rings it didn't shock me to find that there was another Strange Folk out there somewhere. The thing is these guys arrived at their name directly through their music - truly strange folk, replete with instruments such as tea-chest bass, Japanese harp, whistles, and kitchen-staves (something I have to go look up). The current incarnation is a group called Striding Edge, an eclectic four-piece. My big plan was to try to have them come to Eden this year but obviously that got thwarted. In lieu of that I've pulled a track from their CD for your perusal. I could see these guys (and one gal) going over well with our crowd. You can check it out here.

I'm glad that the guys were able to pull Don in for a Winfalls set at the Gathering of the Vibes. It's only fitting that some representation of the band be present; Strangefolk is one of the only bands to have played that festival since the beginning. And what do you think of Stevie Jones? That guy is not only one of the most solid and deep guitar players around but he's a good friend and one of the nicest guys you'll meet.

I've been having some fun playing in Chico here and there with buddies. Here's a shot from last weekend - a going away party for some good friends in town.

I'm not sure if you can tell by the photo but we were definitely smack dab in the middle of a big freebird moment. It's one of the only times I've ever experienced a three guitar lineup where there was no toe-stepping and everybody found their own niche in the groove. Gonzo, the guy in the red shirt, and I come from very much the same school of playing so we had a lot of fun soloing together. Good times.

I'll check in again before long. Still doing well and hanging in there. Enjoy your Labor Day Weekend and know we're all really going to miss getting together with you at Eden this year.

July 6, 2005

December 23, 2004

I love that Patchen wrote about those claymation specials that come on every year as the holidays roll around. I lived for those when I was a kid. Still do in a way. I actually own the classic Heat Miser one, A Year Without Santa Claus. For some reason that one always seemed the coolest, the rare gem that didn't get aired as much. Watching it now I can understand why it may not have gotten the airtime that Rudolph did - it is a bit odd. Anyway, a few facts to supplement Patched In: this year marked the 40th anniversary of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, when it was made (1964) it was unbelievably high budget; a single doll cost about $7,000. It took 18 months to film. Oh, and the studio people came up with a fancy name for the animation - Magimation! Magimation indeed.

Correction: it's Animagic, not Magimation. I knew that sounded wrong.

I am excited to make some music in the new Higher Ground. If anyone knows how to do it right those people do. Harper's has become a fun place to spend a few nights and I'm looking very forward to hanging out in the Boston area for a few days. And the State Theater just feels like home, a big cavernous home. It'll be great to ring in 2005 with friends and family.

Here's hoping your holidays are warm and bright and full of friends and loved ones. See you in a few days.

November 5, 2004

It has been a while since the band has hit the road and there's not much to report so I'll do a little reminiscing.

Anyone on the band circuit knows that there are some classic band rooms out there. Some of the rooms are great because they have a certain vibe. There's the pillow filled band room at the Rave in Milwaukee. There are the Oriental rugs, great showers, and amazing spreads of cheese and fruit at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR. The Fillmore is filled with incredible photos of the venue's history. The House of Blues in Chicago has a special room with a giant bronze Buddha. The best band room ever was in Indiana somewhere when we played with Gregg Allman and Friends. We were in a huge room that was decked out with fake tropical trees and tons of good food. I want to say that it was a mini-golf course but it probably wasn't. I still feel strongly that I saw some of the guys putting with golf clubs in there. Anyway, great room.

Then there are the rooms that stand out because of their graffiti. There's the beguiling Wall of Ham at the Crow Bar in State College, PA. There's the unbelievably depressing, dark scrawl all over the walls at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor. Pretty much every band room has some form of graffiti or mass stickering from bands but the Webster Theater in Hartford takes the cake. Amidst a blizzard of cartoon penises and characters engaging in just about every contortion you can render in 2-D we found this gem:

I think it speaks for itself. I wish I'd thought of this one first. This could be made into a sticker and applied to almost every band room wall across the country. It would not go unappreciated.

Okay, enough of that. I hope you all had great Halloweens and I'm sorry we didn't get to be there with you. We'll make up for it during the holiday run. I'm looking very forward to it.

Until then,

Be good or be good at it.

September 28, 2004

The subject of this month's installment eluded me for awhile. Of course there are many thanks due to Mark and the Wormtown folks for helping make this year's Eden a possibility, let alone such a success. Of course there are many many thanks due to all of you who showed up and made it so much fun to play. I loved this year's Eden. I can't think of a time when I felt so relaxed and ready to play. This year was a breeze for me. And speaking of breeze, the weather was great this year. Thank you, Mother Nature, for that one. Okay, that didn't take up much space. What else to write about? Then it fell into my lap: a bunch of people emailed me directly with links to the latest forums. Seems a popular topic is "No Fall Dates!?" So that's where we'll go today, my friends.

You are right. You guessed it. There are no fall dates. Based on the tone of the posts one would think the band was maliciously holding out on its fans. The truth is we never thought about it. The truth is that we went on tour this summer - our first tour of any sort all year - just to have fun and enjoy it for its own sake. We had so much fun playing with Russ in the spring that we wanted to solidify the music with him. And we did. It was a lot of fun, despite the fact that we lost all of our gear. We went into summer half thinking we'd book some studio time in the fall if things were feeling good. The gear getting stolen was a massive financial disaster and that pretty much wiped out the potential game plan. We hadn't even thought about a fall tour. We were taking things one step at a time to get through the summer in one piece. We've been forced to take things one step at a time for a few years now. In this business you have to plan months and months in advance. Folks, the simple truth is that we just didn't think far enough in advance. We got a major ball dropped on us (again) and it left us with no plan B for the fall. We are busy, though. Patchen and I are working on a project that will make the guitar players out there smile. We're gearing up plans for winter. There will be a NYE run. It will be in New England. The Folk will ride again soon.

When I read those posts I feel good. I am really happy and blessed to be in a band that has fans that feel this strongly about what we do (or don't). Thanks for being there...Go easy on the tone though! Shit, you guys are a tough bunch! Here's my message to you messagistas: the sheer fact that Strangefolk still exists should be a testament to our drive, or maybe at this point our insanity. We have been through a lot. There will be more shows. Man, last year at this time that alone would have been good news. It's good news to me. We still have to work around a lot of variables to make big things, like a tour, happen. We love you all and thank you for your support. We're still getting things together and hoping for the best.

August 10, 2004

"Well...THAT happened."
-Bob Barrenger, State and Main

The coolest tour ever was hotter than hell and a lot of things got stolen. Somehow it still ended up being a lot of fun. Being forced into new gear brought about some interesting changes in our approach. The whole process of having all our stuff stripped from us and having to grow new wings, expensive new wings, showed me again what a great group of people I have the pleasure to associate with in this band. After the initial freakout we all sat down and thought about our options, decided on one, and committed to it. Within a few hours we were in New York City making it happen. We had to sacrifice one show to make it work and we regret that we didn't make it to Baltimore. Haven't been there in a few years and was looking forward to it. Arriving at the Gathering of the Vibes with brand new stuff that we hadn't tweaked was scary. Thanks to all of you there for being so kind as we warmed it up in real time. By the end of the tour I could hear all of us coming into our own again. I look forward to the next few shows because we really started to hit stride in Portsmouth, our last real show of the tour, and I felt ready for more. We've got a couple of gigs and a week of rehearsal before Eden and we'll be ready to come out on fire. We learned 10 new songs before this tour began and only got to pull a few of them out due to all the hang ups.

I'll think of this last as The Most Challenging Tour Ever.

We're all really excited for Eden this year. For the last few years our Eden festival has been a major challenge to pull off due to some unbelievable prior ball-droppings. In 2002 the local police forgot we were having a festival and sent all their guys on vacation that weekend, forcing us to cough up more than it just cost us to buy new gear to pay a bunch of police to drive over from Rutland. We were required by law to have them there. This ball was dropped on us a few days before the show! That's only one of many stories I could tell you. Maybe I'll write a book someday. It'll be called, "You're F@#*ing Kidding, Right?"

Push a mountain up a hill. And perch it on a windowsill.

When these things happen I ask myself why we keep going. The answer is that we love to play.

I think the reason I'm telling you this now is because I want it to be known that we put our all into our annual Eden shows and this one will be no exception. I am so excited that we can pull this one off because it wasn't looking very good for a while there. The Wormtown folks are working closely with us to make this one as great as any before it. The band will be showing up ready to kick it down so I hope you're all ready to come and have a great time.

Thanks for being there for us.

Over and out.

May 29, 2004

4/19/04

January 20, 2004

Happy new year everyone. Here's to a brand new year. I think we ended last year on the right foot and started this one out the same. I'm glad we got a chance to play some good shows over the holidays. Still no solid plans for this year but we're taking it as it comes.

I mentioned that I would upload some new stuff to the music page and then I went ahead and forgot all about it so for this installment - since I don't have much to say - I'll get the music up there. I fixed a bunch of things on Lost Soul that warranted re-posting it so if you're interested in checking the new version out please feel free. Basically, I didn't like the way the vocals were so loud you couldn't crank it and listen to the music. Also, it sounded too much like an army of Me. So I fixed it. Now you can crank it up and hear the groove. The other songs are Livin it Out, which we debuted at Eden. I like how this little demo version of it came out. And finally, Last Confession. I wrote and recorded this one a few years ago. It's kind of a fun little tune that never saw the light of day.

Enjoy and I'll check in again next month.

December 23, 2003

After the New Year is rung in Erik and I are talking about doing another show at The Wharf Tavern in Hallowell, Maine on Jan. 4th. Last time was a lot of fun. If it's possible for it to happen we'll make sure to post an announcement so be sure to check back on the site.

May your holidays be bright whatever, whenever, however you celebrate.

Peace,

Jon

October 29, 2003

It's been a busy month since I last spoke with you. Not having a tour schedule staring me in the face has given me a little time to stretch out and enjoy the homelife, though I still seem to have spent my fair share of time in the airport and car. Now I'm packing my bags for another trip east and I'm looking forward to doing some playing on the Strangefolk stage. For those of you who make the trek to Vermont make sure to bring a costume. We'll be judging the best ones for a prize as yet undetermined.

Last night I had a bunch of friends over to carve pumpkins and have a little dinner. If we had made it into a contest Mr. Don Scott would have won the award for best jack-o-lantern, hands down. Here we see him etching what looks to be a convoluted mess onto his pumpkin.

The next shot shows the design coming to life a little bit, though we all thought it looked like an abstract bunch of slashes. Don was already explaining that he didn't really expect much when we threw a candle in it and stepped outside...

Lo and behold! The Harvest Reaper comes alive. Nice work Don Scott!

Happy Halloween Everybody! Hope to see you at the show.

 

September 15, 2003

Shit, I thought taking a week to go fishing would be a great way to cross the threshold into a post-Eden bliss. And it was. But I’m home now and all I want to do is go fishing again. It didn't make my crash landing back into reality any easier. I think for the first time in my life I can honestly say I'd Rather Go Fishin'. I had such a fun time at Eden but it all went much too soon. I hope all who went had as much fun as I did.

My brother and father angle for trout on Flat Creek, Jackson, WY

Every Eden that we do leaves me amazed that the show goes off at all. There’s so much excitement and adrenaline and work that goes into putting on a show like this. Over the years we, as a band, have gotten a lot better at being relaxed which goes a long way toward playing good music. We can only achieve that state buoyed by the hard work of so many of the people behind the scenes who scramble to make it all come together. It’s a wonder to witness what goes on behind the scenes: all the flying by the seat of the pants, all the things that fall apart at the last second, all the energy that goes into making sure that the show goes on. You wouldn’t believe it. Honestly, I do my best to avoid witnessing as much of it as possible. It's way too stressful. Anyway, I want to take a minute to point the spotlight at those in our organization who put in so much time and energy and love to help make everything come together. Without these people the show would not go on:

Al Ostroy, our good friend and manager, who has kept our world organized, somewhat sane, and always fun;

Jean Sienkewicz, our office manager, unofficial doer of all things undoable, overseer of things unseeable, keeper of the smile, and she who scored me an autograph from Beck (major points);

Shaun Keegan and Brian Lynch, road crew/utility guys extraordinaire, the first line of defense, eternal peers to the band in the road race to see who will get THERE first, peerless in the "who gets the least sleep" department;

Steve Seremeth, PJ Mattson, our web gurus, keeping it online, keeping it up to date, and keeping it smooth;

Ned and Kate Beebe, Andy Francke, our artistic directors and saviors, lenders of great talent and time to the visual side of Strangefolk;

Ben Collette, archivist and general good vibesman;

Diana and Don over there on the merch table all summer providing good cheer, great merch table service, superbly accurate merch sheets at the end of the night, and the occasional zip of kickin’ aged scotch from a flask;

Marc Drouin & Strangers Helping Strangers and all the great folks who give their time organizing and delivering for that wonderful cause;

all of you ladies and gents deserve a tremendous thanks and here’s me sending it your way as loud as I can. I may only be typing but I'm typing with fervor. Tell me, can you feel it? I hope so. There are many others out there who deserve our thanks for being great friends and supporters and helping us pull Eden together. Thank you all so much.

I'm excited that we got the offer to put on a show in Vermont on Halloween. There's no space in time I love more than New England in October. I'm so happy to have two great reasons to go there. The Halloween show gives us a chance to illustrate that we don't plan on being done with music; we're just taking time from constant touring. When we announced that we were taking a break from the road a lot of people inevitably took it that we were "done." People were coming up to me all summer asking about "what's really going on." It's mid-September now and I still don't know what's going on. But I do know what isn't going on: a Strangefolk Fall Tour. It's not music any of us needs a break from. Or each other. It's simply time to rest, regroup, and let what be will be. Que sera sera. Erik just went out and did a bunch of dates with Al Schnier, Patchen is lining up dates, and I am going to join Reid in Maine on Oct. 4th and I can't wait. We're going to visit the old days with some acoustic jamming and I think I'll bring in my electric rig in case we need to do any Dusting later in the night. It should be a fun one, especially with Patchen, Jen, and Erik down the street the same night rocking until the bars kick everyone out.

Until next time, be kind - rewind
in with the good, out with the bad.

---

 

August 23, 2003

Hello Friends,

How's everyone doing out there? I'm sitting here in Maine enjoying the weekend. I just got back from a trip to VT and took the above picture to give you an idea of where we'll all be hanging out next week. We all got together last week for an Eden session and we had a lot of fun. We're all excited for this year's show. Obviously, it's a big one for us. This year the site is a cause for us to be excited. You won't have to sleep at a 45 degree angle and wake up with your head about to explode because you passed out with your feet going up-slope. This place is nice and flat. And the lake. Always nice to be near water. The only thing I'll say is watch out for Champ. If you don't know about Champ check this web site out. If you go in the water after dark just pray you don't feel a strong water current whooshing under your feet, or even worse, the touch of its slippery skin. It's probably cool, though, so don't worry.

Getting to see many old friends is going to be fun. It's been awhile since we've been able to spend some quality time with our buddies in Percy Hill. It'll be fun having Reid up with us. I've played with AOD before but we've never had a chance to have Reid back with us. It'll be a lot of fun. This Eden will cover a broad scope of music. I'm looking forward to Max Creek. We've done some stuff with them this summer and it's been a lot of fun. Those guys are pros. Every band that's coming is going to be fun. This year I hope the setup allows people to check out thedaytime music while hanging out by the water or doing whatever they do. My memories of it from the GOTV a few years back are really good. I did a lot of wandering there and got a good idea of the layout. This is a great place for a show. In case you're wondering about the ferry, my recollection is that it's a simple ride, just north of Burlington (follow signs from 89 N and I don't think you can miss it). It's a short ride and it drops you a few miles from the site. Or you can drive around the lake which takes a little longer but avoids the ferry toll (which is small). I think the party pretty much starts at the ferry. But make sure your driver isn't doing any of the partying; you just never know when the shit will hit the fan and you can be sure cops will be keeping an eye out on that area.

Speaking of partying, a lot of people have written in with concern about getting through "The Gate." This is my advice to you: pack wisely; alcohol from outside is not (and has never been) permitted. We're not allowed to allow it. We're doing all we can to insure that the experience of going through the gate will be just like any other festival/concert rather than the entrance to a state prison. I do know that the liquor inspector in good ol' VT is really into her job and has been the cause of a lot of the, shall we say, buzzkill in the last years. We moved to NY for a lot of reasons and one of them was to avoid some of that garbage. Let's hope we do. Part of it is in your hands. I'll say it again: Pack Wisely. Expect the worst and hopefully you'll be happily surprised. We don't have total control over what happens at the gate but we are doing all we can to make sure that it's different from past years.

Enjoy this week. Pray for great weather. We'll see you on Saturday.

July 13, 2003

Hi all –

I wanted to check in with you since I see there’s a good deal of message board conversation, speculation, and theorizing about what on earth is going on with the band. If only I had a nickel for every time we in the band have questioned what on earth is going on I’d be rich. But I’d still be here writing to you about this very topic. Well, maybe not, but I’m inclined to say most likely I would.

There are various factors contributing to our need for a break. For me it’s just general fatigue. Fatigue can be overcome with time so, for me, it’s really about taking a break, taking some time to breathe and figure things out. We did this when Reid left and looking back I’m amazed we were back in action so quick. What it came down to then is that we love to play music and it was worth it to seek out some new blood and continue the quest. Now, three years, one major domestic terrorist attack, and a flailing economy later we find ourselves at another crossroads in what feels like a different world. Things change and evolve and that’s what’s happening to us. Again. Here we go for another round.

When I looked at the band statement the wording seemed so harsh and permanent. I don’t know what the future will bring but I can tell you that we very consciously are not breaking up. We want Strangefolk to stay alive and we want to leave the door open for that to happen. That may mean we all go in different directions and come back together in a month, a year, or maybe five years later because we love doing it too much to stop. To borrow a phrase from Jack Black, "the road is a bee-eye-itch, my friend, but it’s the only road I know." That’s really what it is. We’re just pressing the STOP button right now because things feel kind of crazy and overwhelming. That stop may be permanent or temporary. It may include all present members and it may not. None of us knows and time will tell.

To be clear, it’s not about money, it’s not about living in far flung places. We could keep going the way things are now and survive indefinitely. The issue is not inner-band conflict. It’s that to operate as a happy healthy group everyone in that group needs to be happy and healthy and not everyone is. Being on the road, away from loved ones and creature comforts, staying up all night in smoky bars, living on Denny’s, driving all day, hanging out in the most depressing, broken couch and shadeless lamp, beer stench, graffiti-ridden band rooms (The Blind Pig in Ann Arbor wins All Time #1) can be wearing on a soul. We’ve got a soul or two that really need a break so that’s what we decided we must do. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

I’ve used a lot of words to say little. Not unusual for me. Anyway, I wrote a song that’s kind of relevant to this situation. It’s called Lost Soul. Here’s the link to it. There you'll find mp3s of Lost Soul and Don's new song, Shelly. Lost Soul is me, Don on keys, and a good friend, Johnny, from Chico on bass. This recording of Shelly resulted from an afternoon with Don after he'd been busy writing songs. He brought a six pack over to my house, we hung out, and he laid this down in one take. After he left I added guitar and bass. Didn't put a whole lot into programming the drum machine; it's kind of there for a tempo guide for me but I left it in. I think it lends the song a kind of stark John Lennon quality. For the well connected (broadband users) I included a folder with an SHN version of Lost Soul. The difference in sound quality is very noticeable. If you want the full experience download that one, decode it to .wav, and listen with headphones. And then tell me can you feel it.

Well friends, I hope to see you in the coming weeks. We sure have some fun stuff lined up.

Take care.

---

 

June 24, 2003

Summer summer summer. It's here and going full tilt. I can't believe the solstice has come and gone. Days are already getting shorter so get out and enjoy it. The flip to that is that night's are getting longer which means by the end of summer, by Labor Day Weekend, we'll have some nice long evenings in which to make music for you on Lake Champlain at our 8th Eden festival. Ya know, it just wouldn't be Strangefolk if we didn't announce the festival later and later each year. We apologize for the lateness; it appears to be our own little family tradition. This year the site promises to be much cooler than possibly any year we've done it. There will be water, there will be late nite potential, there may be boats, and maybe the lake's own mystery monster, Champ, will come out and rock with us. It's been years since a sighting has been reported. Another very exciting development is that we can all camp together and the ground is flat. Wow. And there's plenty of room.

The only thing we need to stress is that you please buy your tix early if you think you're going to come. This will help us figure out exactly how much stuff we need. It will also help us keep the authorities off our backs and yours. Eden started off mellow, got a little bigger, and now is back to the mellow level again and we're trying to make some changes to bring that aura back. Assuming everything goes through as planned we'll be announcing site specifics as soon as we can.

Here's hoping we'll see many of your bright smiling faces this July as we hit some familiar and new venues. Summer touring wouldn't be complete without some island shows. If you haven't been yet make sure you get to Nantucket. We've got some rehearsals to do and we'll see you at the Gathering of the Vibes.

April 29, 2003

This month we're going to take a field trip to the studio of David Gomes, the luthier who made my acoustic guitar. He lives in Hawaii so bring your shorts.

Dave lives in Kapaau which is on the northwestern tip of the Big Island. He crafts his guitars in a studio perch overlooking the Kohala Coast. It is a truly inspiring place to work and Dave builds some beautiful instruments. He is also a reknowned Ukelele maker. Born and raised in Hawaii, he spent a number of years in Spain studying the art of guitar building. He has been making guitars and music, primarily Hawaiian slack key, for 25 years (for more info on Dave go here). I met him through a friend in 1998, visited his studio, played some of his creations, and more or less ordered a guitar right then. It was one of those moments in life where you know you've found a true mate. There was a pretty solid waiting list for his instruments but he managed to get my guitar to me in less than a year.

Dave gathers many of the materials for his instruments locally whenever possible. The wood from the one he made for me came from the Kiawe tree which produces an incredibly hard, good sounding wood. The bonus is that the thorny Kiawe is so overgrown on the islands that harvesting it is actually a good thing. The headstock, however, comes from a beautiful piece of curly Koa. The distinctive shape was inspired by a view of the Polulu Valley right near Dave's home. Dave also does intricate mother of pearl inlays from shells he collects. I asked him to do a Green Sea Turtle on my headstock. You would be able to tell in the photo below if I hadn't taken the shot out of focus.

I've had this guitar for nearly five years now and every song I've written since then has been with its aid. I rarely take it with me on the road but did have the pleasure of using it for our acoustic set at last year's Eden.

If you should find yourself in Hawaii or looking for a unique guitar give Dave a call - (808) 889 5100 - and I'm sure he'd be happy to send you some info.

Looking forward to some gigs in the northeast coming up soon.

Until next time we meet,

Aloha.

---

 

March 17, 2003

I feel like a kid going to school and telling the teacher that the dog ate his homework. I just spent a good hour updating this page and my computer ate it. Instead of rewriting it I'll briefly go over what I wrote.

First, had a great time last weekend in VT. It was truly heartwarming (though it was freezing) to go back to the home of this band and be received so well for our 1000th (ish) show celebration. The celebration continues this weekend in Maine and Boston. Between VT, Maine, and Boston we will have covered the towns where we really got our start. Thank you all for the support.

Second, there's a poll on jambands.com that someone mentioned to me the other day. This one has to do with band lyrics and their importance to fans. Let's rock the vote, you and I. Lend us your vote and we'll see if we can jump up the chart.

Third, happy St. Patrick's Day. Go drink a green beer (or Shamrock shake).

Cheers!

February 9, 2003

Checking in from somewhere in Route 15 northbound up on through Idaho. This western trip has been fun. I always say that but this time I mean it. Just kidding. Sometimes touring gets boring and tiring and this trip has had those moments but for the most part it's been a really good time.

Some highlights: Don's brother hooked us up with an unused yacht in San Diego and we used the hell out of it. We played with a band called Ten Mile Tide in San Francisco and L.A. and asked them to join us for the night in San Diego since we had no opener and they'd driven all the way down the state with us anyway. Ten Mile Tide is a really good new band and we've got a lot in common so we all had a great time together. A bunch of them joined us on the boat and had a great time out on the water. The captain took us for a sail sometime in the morning. It was SuperBowl Sunday and I'm sure you all know the game was in San Diego so we got to get away from everything and just be on the water. It was really nice. But we did make it back in time to watch the game in the marina bar. I passed out on my table. Never was much of a football fan.

Another highlight was seeing our old sound man Gnat Koren in San Francisco. He's doing well and it was great to hang with him for a bit. He wears glasses now and looks quite stately.

Let's see, what else? My girlfriend's mom made us about a pound of guacamole and we had a post show parking lot party with a huge platter of tortilla chips in Los Angeles. In San Diego we walked along the beach and watched the sun go down into the Pacific Ocean. We also watched Keegman get mired over the ankles by a rogue tidal wash; Slow White Boy Taunts Mother Nature, Mother Nature Responds. Never try to run away from a wave backwards. He said it didn't bother him and I believe it but I could also hear him sloshing around all night.

The crew boys and Patchen took a trip to Mexico the next day. Came back with some slick hats. And syphillis. Just kidding. But the hats are badass and now they look like real caballeros. By the way, our crew these days, if you haven't met them yet, consists of the Large Shaun Keegan and the Estimable Brian Lynch. Bryan does our sound and I think he does it well. Shaun's been on the team for a while so you probably know him. It's a pleasure having these guys aboard.

More high points. Well, all of Colorado was high. We played in Breckenridge at 9600 feet (almost two miles) above sea level. What a workout that is for us low elevation dwellers. Being in that kind of altitude drains you and makes you feel hung over all the time. You get used to it but it takes a while. Your body goes through all kinds of subtle and not so subtle changes. Anyway, Colorado is always fun. There are always great restaurants and lodgings. It's almost like vacation. Almost. The difference is that we have to entertain the vacationers and sometimes that can be a touch challenging. Nothing cooler than some dudeski waving his drink at you, spilling it on your expensive and highly electrical gear. Ah, showbiz. Life and death hang in the balance (or lack) of a slippery grip on a frozen margarita. If you wanna be really cool to any band you go see remember this: Don't Ever Put Your Drink Near the Monitors or Pedals!! You'll be loved. But most of the people are really cool and the local's scene in the Colorado ski towns reminds me of Stowe and Mad River Glen. I felt very much at home there.

We got to see a lot of familiar faces from the east on this trip. It's always cool to see old friends in new places. Thanks to all of you who traveled to see us. You too, Tim Panico, even though you came from the west.

We're hauling ass up to Missoula right now. Seattle and the northwest loom around the corner. So does our 1000th show. That's a biggie. Puts things in perspective. Too much bloody perspective. Sorry, can't help the Tap references. We rented it the other day just to laugh our asses off even though it sometimes feels like our own story. Long live Viv Savage. Anway, 1000 shows is an awful lot of shows. I'm not sure if the math is right but people are telling us that the Higher Ground shows are where the odometer is going to turn over. What a long strange strange trip its been. Come celebrate with us if you live nearby; it's sure to be a fun time.

Much love to you all for supporting us through the years. See you soon.

PS. Thanks for all the tips on good burrito joints in the northeast. I will try to check some of them out and give you my ratings. Also, we met this 18 year old fiddle prodigy named Bobby Britt in Colorado and he joined us on a bunch of dates. The kid is amazing and his band, coincidentally enough, is named Open Road Bluegrass Band. They're on tour right now in the northeast so definitely go check them out . You will not be disappointed. www.openroadbluegrass.com/

January 21, 2003

Has anyone noticed we've been touring our asses off? I have. Will someone count the shows we played this year and tell me how many it was? I'd sure appreciate that. It's probably not as many as it feels like but It's been fun to be back in such full swing again. The only drawback is that we've had no time to write and get together on ideas. This spring we'll probably take a little time to get that stuff together because I don't want to go much longer without some new fun stuff to play.

The Gregg Allman and Friends tour was great fun. Now we're off to some new adventures and plenty of misadventures in the West. I am looking forward to playing in some warm weather again. And I'm looking forward to some good burritos in So. Cal. I still can't believe no one on earth has figured out how to transplant the West Coast Burrito (as opposed to, say, a Mexican one which would probably be like Italian pizza is to American pizza) to the east coast. It just seems odd. Maybe if Strangefolk goes bust I'll start up a stand with the boys.

Non-sequitur time.

Hi.

Um, yeah. Not much to say. It was great to play in the snow up north. Sugarloaf was a blast for us. The whole month of December, traditionally a very slow time for us, was great. Thanks to all of you for coming out and making it so much fun. We clearly feed off your energy and you clearly feed off ours so let's keep getting together to share that. Great great and, yes, definitely great.

Did someone say great? Great then. Onward. If I said left would I be right?

Surf, sun, mountains and snow, and a swing through the Great Northwest. That's the menu for the next few weeks. Don't you wish you were on the road? I'm sure I'll put up a few more daily road journals just to show you that you're glad to be tucked in your very own little bed every night. Well, maybe you're not but you ARE glad it's not you driving all day trying to find random clubs and hotels. Left means Right I mean Stop wait Go. Excuse me, someone flicked the blinker on the wrong way. Anyway, the great part is the night. Vicarious living is the way to go so I'll be your friendly guide, bringin it all home for you.

Adios, friends. Until next time.

--

Where in Hell are the Van Keys? On the road with Gregg Allman and Friends.

Day One, December 26/27. Begin drive from Maine to Florida at about 9am. Drive through the aftermath of a nice Nor'easter which keeps things nice and slow for hours on end. Erik patiently drives us through it. The ride begins with three: Erik, me, and my girlfriend Harmony (refer to scene in Spinal Tap where David St. Hubbins shares the news that Janine is coming with Nigel), who will be doing merch duties on this tour. Reach Brooklyn to pick up Patchen and Col. Matthew Peskie at around 6pm. We have the pleasure of Matt's company and proficiency behind the soundboard (and planning board) for this run. He also has a great collection of mp3s and keeps us entertained with liberal doses of Crank Yankers episodes. Actually, only one episode but it bears repeated listening. Matt pilots us out of Brooklyn at 7:30 after we get some food. At this point I decide that it's bedtime because we've got about 20 hours left to drive and we have to go straight which means someone has to be able to take over when Matt's done. We haven't done this kind of kamikazee mission for many years and it's kind of fun to be back in the saddle. Anyway, down I go into a deep sleep, waking up only when we reach Washington D.C. and stop to pick up Luke, and then all I could really do was open my eyes for a second and say hi to his brother in law, Sayre. It's about 11 or so at this point. Or maybe it's 1am. I really don't have an idea because I'm so out of it. We push on into the night. At about 5:30 we stop for gas and I take the wheel. There's less than an hour until daylight and we're in South Carolina. The sun rises strong and I suddenly wish I had my sunglasses. The heat feels good. This is far from the snowstorm we drove out of yesterday. I squint my way through Georgia and into Florida. The trees are all hung with spanish moss and there's mist rising everywhere. Quite the southern scene. We get to Orlando at about 11am, pick Don up at the airport, and head to the hotel. We get there and they won't let us check in early so we get the worst breakfast I've ever had at the neighboring IHOP and play video games in the hotel rec room. Air hockey is never so much fun as when you've been riding in a van for over 24 hours. Harmony won when I slammed the puck and accidentally scored a goal on myself. The real victory was being able to finally check in and jump in bed for a 45 minute nap.

We head over to the House of Blues which is situated right in the midst of the Disney World fracas. There are tourists everywhere. We head into this magnet shop and are amazed that someone would go to such lengths as to make a magnet that looks just like a cheeseburger. Even more amazed by all the people in there buying this kind of stuff. Ain't that America. The club is really nice and the people there treat us well. Some guys from Gregg's band are jamming on stage, waiting for the soundcheck. We mill around and make ourselves comfortable which is very easy to do at this venue. There's great catering and our green room has couches and television aplenty. This is one of the reasons I love opening for bigger acts: classy venues and treatment. It's almost like taking a vacation while touring.
--
Our set goes well that night. The crowd, I'd guess around 1500 people, seemed to like us and they gave us a really warm applause. Later that night, right before he kicked into Sweet Melissa, Gregg gave us some props with, "How 'bout them Strangefolks." The response was great. So now we're officially Strangefolks.

Day Two, December 28. Jacksonville FL.

Wake up to find out that the van keys are MIA. Matt insists he gave them to Luke at the hotel vending machine the night before. Luke informs him that this is not possible, as he wasn't near Matt or a vending machine at the hotel last night. We conclude it was all a dream. The keys are located inside the van. Thank you AAA!

This night we're doing our own show. We drive up to Jacksonville and do our thing. There are two bands opening for us that night. One is an acoustic band who were really nice and fit really well with the bill. The second band was good but so so so wrong for the vibe that night. It was a punk band. Promoters have this magical way of totally screwing everything up when it comes to putting a show together and this night really stood out for it's lack of cohesion. How anyone could have dreamed this would be a good bill is beyond me but someone did dream it and it became our nightmare. The venue folks were nice to us and we had a fine time entertaining the very few who were there to share the rest of the evening with us.

And then we sleep.

Day Three, December 29. Myrtle Beach, SC.

Back to the House of Blues franchise. This night I realize that they make these places from a cookie cutter. It's a good cookie cutter, though. The experience is essentially a repeat of the Orlando show: all good. The crowd was especially lively that night. They really seemed to get into our set and Gregg once again gave the Strangefolks props, this time right after the first song. Antoher really fun night.

Day Four, December 30. Asheville, NC.

I love this town. It's one of the few southern towns that seems to come out and support us when we play there. We played in a new venue called the Orange Peel. Great place for a show. This was a night for me where the mileage kicked in and my playing wasn't what I'd like it to be. I think we all felt a little off but we still had a pretty good set. After the show we headed to a good friend's apartment and dragged some of Gregg's band with us. We also had the drummer from Lynyrd Synyrd with us which added an interesting, if surreal dimension to the evening. Good times.

Day Five, New Year's Eve. Atlanta, GA

Hot 'Lanta was a little cold and rainy this night. Widespread Panic was in town. The Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl (one of the more egregious yet funny examples of the over-corporatization of everything buyable and sellable in America) drew 75,000 football fans in for the night. Strangefolk had the pleasure of squaring off in front of a good sized crowd at the Tabernacle. We decided to throw a little Zeppelin their way to see how it would go down. People love their Zep everywhere and Gregg Allman's Georgia people were no exception. Our opening set was fun. This night we got an hour instead of 45 minutes so we got to stretch out a little more.

We've noticed that Gregg does the same show every night and we see how that works for his scene because no one is touring from show to show and there's not a huge internet or tape trading scene. Basically, he plays the tunes people want to hear every night. You see the show once and that's all you need to do. We decide to follow a similar format just to see what it would be like to be, say, In Sync but without the fans or money. We're working on the choreography. This way we can give any stray Strangefolk followers a good dose of us and we can put a solid set together for Gregg's fans, who are a totally different demographic. The plan seems to be working for us. After all, who would notice?

After Gregg's set we bust our gear downstairs to the Cotton Club. We played there with The Big Wu last spring and had a really good time so we were all excited to get it going again this night. As soon as Gregg's show ended we started. We had the great fortune of having two-thirds of the horn section from GAF come down and jam with us all night. His band and crew are all great guys and we'd talked a little about getting together for our late night jam. It was such a pleasure to have Jay and Richard come down and just blow the night away on sax and trumpet, respectively. Having an instant top-notch horn section added to the Strangefolk mix was a rare treat for us. Having it go on throughout the night was even better. Pure musical fun.

Day Six, January1. Drive toward Cincinnatti. Stop in Knoxville, TN. Go see a late showing of The Two Towers. Go to sleep with a big smile on my face. Great start to a new year.

Day Seven, January 2. Cincinnatti, OH

It is cold and snowy. The south was nice. We have this night to ourselves so we can go for two sets and stretch it out. It's a nice change from doing short sets but we're back on the hellish club circuit which is jarring compared to the posh living we've been enjoying as guests on Gregg's tour. The few faithful turn out in the cold and snow and we play a low key but long and, for me, enjoyable show.

Day Eight, January 3. Fort Wayne, IN

What a weird venue. I think Piere's Entertainment Center is the biggest, craziest bar I've ever been in. It's an entertainment complex with seven bars, many dance floors, many odd labrynthine twists and turns leading to places called The Foam Room and golf tee simulation room, internet stations, and Lord knows what else. There's a big-ass stage just plopped down in the middle of it with a whopper sound system and that's where we played. Gregg and Friends manage to pull a good crowd everywhere and the denizens of Piere's and Fort Wayne begin to pile in. We all noticed a change in vibe here in Indiana. Lots of leather and Harley gear. I thought we'd get fried in the south but everyone was really kind to the band there. The southern fans really seemed to take to our music and bob their heads along with the beat and cheer really loud after songs. This Indiana crowd was less receptive but they were okay. One of the things we've noticed on this tour is that when we take the stage the crowd always thinks we're Gregg's band and they welcome us like kings...until they notice Gregg Allman has not taken the stage. Then we're on our own. That's when we dig in and rock them. Just like Tenacious D. And we've done fine but Fort Wayne is a little slower on the SF uptake. We decided in advance that we'd give them "Last Dance with Mary Jane" to give the ol' Indiana shizzout out. (Yeah!!) To this they responded well but I'm not sure we were loved overall. Maybe it's because we played at 7pm. Whatever the reason, we walked offstage, immediately repaired to the karaoke bar and rocked that section of Piere's until very very late.

Day Nine, January 4. Chicago, IL

We woke up and realized that the van keys were missing for the second time on this trip. Panic, bag searches, hotel room searches, a flurry of activity and they finally turn up in the pocket of our road crew, who are already on the road but dutifully turn around and kindly return the keys to us. And away we go toward Chee-ca-go.

At the original House of Blues I realize that they aren't all made from a cookie cutter. This one created the mold. This one is the One. We had a fun set but experienced a little of that Indiana vibe again. I find it interesting that we have no fanbase in the south yet Gregg's fans like us but in the north where we do have a fanbase Gregg's fans don't seem quite as keen. I'll work it all out some other time. Our set is fun and Gregg puts on a good show. After it's over we go downstairs and there's this rockin blues band playing on a small stage. Luke strikes up conversation with them and they invite him and all of us to jam. Luke got up and kept the groove going on drums while Jay (sax man from Gregg's band) got up and ripped. Don joined them on keys and they got the house jumping. It was a lot of fun to watch. A lot of times these jams go south really quickly but this one smoldered. These are the little moments that make nights so much fun.

Day Ten, January 5. Kalamazoo, MI

This was the final show with GAF and we had a good time. By the end of the show we were all tired from such a fun week and we got together for a little bit and said our goodbyes. Doing this tour reminded me why it's so good to tour with other bands. Getting to meet new people, listen to new music, and make friends is what it's all about. Many thanks to Gregg and his band for letting us tag along for a little bit and thanks to the people who came to the shows who were so kind to us.

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December 2, 2002

Here we are in December. Truly is amazing how fast the months go by. This looks to be a fun one. We're going to dig into acoustic territory for the first leg of the tour. We had such a fun time at Eden with it that we decided to revisit the idea this winter. After Christmas we will be heading straight out on the road with Gregg Allman, which I talked about last time. Very excited for that.

I updated the mail bag today and decided to bid farewell to the neglected (by me) tablature section. Too many things to do, so little time. So the site gets whittled down to the manageable.

I look forward to seeing you during the holiday run.

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November 12, 2002

Home again, I like to be here when I can.
When I come home cold and tired,
it’s good to warm my bones beside the fire.

Yes, indeed. Now I’m home and all the leaves are falling. I raked about 400 pounds of them today. Man, when I left this place it was sunny and hot every day. I’ve given you snapshots of what it’s like on the road this Fall and now I’ll give you one of what it’s like to get back home after a tour. I got home to a pile of mail. Mostly bills. I found out that the telephone company decided to cancel my long distance plan and sign me up for a new one at a much higher rate. What a joy it was to see a gigantic phone bill for a period of time when I was barely home. It was heartwarming. Pacific Bell is a great example of a monopoly being a really bad thing. There’s no one else to turn to and they seem to enjoy screwing with people. When I call them I picture a bunch of robot zombies on the other end, endlessly thunking into each other while they wade in a mire of red tape. (By the way, can anyone tell me where the term “red tape” came from?) I remember when I was a kid there used to be film shorts on HBO between movies. Remember Video Jukebox? I didn’t think so. It preceded MTV by a couple of years. Well, when a movie ended you either got Video Jukebox or these film shorts. One of them was a stop-action animation about this reel of film that came to life and started unraveling and filling rooms up with piles and piles of itself. It swamped anyone that came near it. When I think of PacBell I think of that film, only I substitute red tape. And the way they treat you after they ask you how they can “provide you with excellent customer service today” makes me wish my little daydream would come true. Now I have to wait 10 days to be approved for a calling plan that I’ve been on for a whole year. I think I’d go 100% cellular if I wasn’t afraid my head would melt. There’s the internet connection to think about as well. Can’t quite afford broadband on my rockstar salary. So anyway, the phone bill fiasco was mission #2 upon returning. #1 was sleep.

So what next? Big trip to the Grocery Store! There’s nothing like being able to cook for yourself after a long tour of the nation’s most generic, unhealthy, and boring eateries. After all, you are what you eat. That would make me Two Eggs Over Easy on Dry Toast With a Side of The Hashbrowns and Maybe Sausage with a Box of Cheerios with a Banana If You Got It. And my name would be Denny. When you’ve got to get to the next gig in time sometimes things take a back seat. (Or, in Erik’s case, a Window Seat -- ha ha.) In our world Sleep is #1; fitting the rest in between waking and getting to the venue is our specialty. Hence, the dining experience is somewhat like taking medicine. It makes you feel not hungry anymore and hopefully that’s it. Would you like some butter with your butter?

Okay, so back to the big Grocery. This is where I get to fantasize about all the things I want to feast on, all the things I’ve been denied. And I always get the same boring things no matter how wild my imagination might be. I’m a creature of habit and my habits are pretty simple. I hold dear some idea that broccoli will make me Better so I get lots of that. Spinach, too. Anything green after such a long gray stretch of Middle America Diet is Goooooood. Being hook, line, and sinkered by the Popeye Spinach Propaganda at a young age might have something to do with it. Anyway, it makes me feel good and what’s good for you is the right thing, right? Right.

Now I’m spending my days working on new songs and learning more on guitar. I’ve been jamming to the accompaniment of my Casio keyboard quite a bit. If you could hear the music that assaults my neighbors you’d laugh. It’s me cranking out the Casio Jam with Hank, the dog next door, barking in tandem. Maybe I’ll record it and put out a solo record. One Man’s Garbage. Wait, that’s already been done.

We’ve got some fun shows coming up next month and then an exciting run with Gregg Allman. Some big stuff coming up. I’m looking very forward to it but also to this time at home to gather my sanity. You rest up, too. See you in exactly one month.

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