From Deep In the Vault...
This page contains the Notes From the Road Archives
-- from Thanksgiving '97 until the end of 1999. There were a
few before that, back when David's site was hosted by a company
called Hidden Water, but they were lost when the company folded
in '97. We'll probably separate these one of these days, but
for now, here they are in a clump. Start at the bottom and read
up for a ramble through the last couple of years of the century.
Thanks for your interest. We hope you'll enjoy these!
Austin, TX
November 22, 1999
Two days after the last time I wrote one of these,
a month ago, my van turned over fifty thousand miles on the way
to a show in California. I just got my oil changed this afternoon,
and I think I'm at fifty-five or so now, thirteen hundred of
which have been on this trip. It's really been a great tour,
and I'm still looking forward to the last five shows in Arkansas,
Missouri and Tennessee, but I have to say it will be good to
see those North Carolina mountains rise up on the horizon. I'll
be playing at the Grey Eagle December 10, and I imagine after
that I'll feel like I'm really home. Home for three weeks, anyway.
:)
I've written quite a bit on this tour and am playing
some new songs, which feels good, not to mention a new instrument
I picked up in Santa Cruz. I missed a turn and was pulling around
a building to turn around when I noticed I was in the parking
lot of a music store. Seemed providential to me, so I went in,
and an hour later left with a new mandolin. It's a pretty little
Gibson Epiphone, and I'm putting all three of the chords I know
to use on stage at most shows.
A week later I stopped by the Taylor Guitar factory
in El Cajon, CA to take a tour and meet some of the folks there
that I had talked with on the phone. Pretty amazing facility,
and mighty nice folks, not to mention gorgeous instruments. In
fact... Rick Fagen, who handles artist relations, showed me a
couple of 514s and before I knew it I was shipping one home.
The first step is admitting I have a problem, right? Hmmm. Anyway,
it's a beautiful instrument, and I'm looking forward to getting
to know it better. Speaking of Taylor, they have a new section
on the site called Discover
the Indies, which features independent artists who play Taylor
guitars. Keep an eye on it, as it looks like I'll be added sometime
fairly soon, not to mention that there are a bunch of great independent
artists feature there that you might want to check out.
Sure was great to be in Phoenix, Arizona, too. Not
only was it my first show in Arizona, I got to have lunch with
one of my closest friends from childhood, then known as Lisa
Silverstein, now as Rabbi Tzur. We went by the childcare place
and woke up her daughter from naptime so I could meet her, too.
Pretty great...
Texas has been great. Not only have I had to opportunity
to see a bunch of friends and do some cool shows, but I've been
fortunate enough to have my wonderful friend Kristin deWitt travel
with me to all of them and sing some harmonies. Kristin is a
much sought after harmony singer, having graced stages with David
Wilcox, Tom Prasada-Rao and touring quite a bit with Sara Hickman.
In fact, her photo is on Sara's
site. Kristin is also doing some performing as the lead vocalist
these days with a back-up guitarist from Austin. Yummy. Also
while in TX I got to catch up with Beth Wood, who was doing a
CD release party in Austin. It was a great show, of course, and
she surprised me by showing up at mine in Dallas a few days later.
Beth sang on This Soul Man on the S.S. Bathtub, and just put
out a great new record called Late Night Radio. To get
a copy you can go to www.bethwoodmusic.com.
Texas also brought a few other adventures, including
three more days of shooting for the very silly independent film
I've been working on with my friends Paul Dowler and Joe Lunne,
entitled Unknown the Great: The Life and Times of Buddy Schmcghee.
Look for a page about it on the site in a couple of months. This
weekend we shot some in Dallas and then went to Archer City,
TX to shoot there and spend some time with Larry McMurtry (author
of Lonesome Dove, Terms of Edearment, Last Picture Show,
etc.), who is a friend of Joe's. We couldn't quite talk him into
being in the film, as he hates cameras and has already agreed
to do an interview with Dan Rather in the Spring, but we had
a whole lot of fun going out to dinner and staying at his mansion,
which used to be the Archer City country club. Life sure is an
adventure...
Plans are on schedule to record in Seattle in early
January, and I'm excited about that. Evan just lined up Keith
Lowe to play most of the bass on the record (the rest being played
by Michael Manring). You may have seen Keith on Jay Leno a couple
of nights ago. He's been Fiona Apple's touring bass player for
the last couple of years. I'm really excited about the record,
and will keep you posted as that develops.
I guess that's about all the news that fits. Thanks,
as always, for your kindness and support. Three months is a long
time to be on the road, but there's nothing like a smiling face
to make it feel like it was worth the trip.
Wishing you peace,
David
Lincoln City, OR (45th parallel)
Friday, Oct. 22, 1999
I have a new favorite national park... Bryce
Canyon held the title until I spent a day in Glacier National
Park in Montana last week. As I drove through the park I found
myself listening to Bruce Cockburn singing "I've been
cut by the beauty of jagged mountains and cut by the love that
flows like a fountain from God / So I carry the scar as precious
and rare..." I hit repeat a few times. There are beautiful
trails there, and I spent a little time in the woods, but mostly
put it high on my list of places I'd like to spend more time.
Here's one picture of it, anyway - just makes you want to do
a jigsaw puzzle, huh? Only in the picture, I promise. That wasn't
the overwhelming emotion as I took it.
An eighty-something-year-old friend of mine in Gillette
Wyoming recently showed me a gadget she had just ordered by mail.
It sits beside the bed and generates sounds of various environments.
I think it had five or six options, including the beach, a forest
or a babbling brook. I don't remember all the settings, but I'm
pretty sure there wasn't one for Glacier. I suppose they could
put "Glacier" where "Off" usually goes. It
is among the most silent places I've been. My friend was chuckling
as she showed me her machine, but has been having trouble sleeping,
and the idea is that those soothing sounds will help one sleep.
I haven't checked with her to see how it's going, but the "ocean"
didn't sound much like ocean to me... more like I-40 with seagulls.
I guess nothing sounds quite like the ocean, except
maybe itself. I left my deck door cracked last night so I could
hear it from my hotel room bed here in Lincoln City OR, where
I'm spending a night off. There was a little green road sign
on the way into town that said "Forty-fifth parallel, half-way
between the North Pole and the Equator." I played in Vancouver
WA, just above Portland, the night before last, and wandered
down here to the coast yesterday. Got to town just in time to
walk down to the ocean and watch the sunset. I've been listening
to a 36-cassette (!?!?) book on tape about Sacajawea and the
Lewis & Clark expedition and I can't help but think of their
excitement when they finally reached the "Great Stinking
Waters" as the plains tribes referred to the Pacific. I've
been crossing their trail often on this trip, and though it's
an understatement to say that the obstacles I've faced on my
journey have been mild by comparison, those travelers cross my
mind even more often than I cross their path. Though their name
for this body of water wasn't terribly complimentary, I sure
was glad to smell the salt in the air when I opened my door this
evening.
So much has happened since I wrote the last one of
these letters nineteen days ago - guess I need to write them
weekly when I'm on the road. Since then I've spent two weeks
at Westwood High in Gillette WY as an Artist in Residence and
played music for folks in Wyoming, Montana, British Columbia,
Washington state and Oregon. I've also had my van searched by
a couple of Sheriff's deputies and a (disappointed) drug dog
in Idaho, had to set music aside to deal with a listener having
a petit mal siezure during a show in Canada, starred in a movie
(titled Unknown the Great: The Life and Times of Buddy Schmcghee),
watched a line of four buffalo walk unconcernedly within six
feet of my van in Montana, had a front tire explode at 70 mph
on I-5 in Oregon, drove through sleet on the Going to the Sun
Road in Glacier Nat'l Park, and a few other adventures. Whew,
now that I put it that way, it has been quite a tour so
far. Half-way done...
I won't make you read through all those stories with
all of their details, but do appreciate your checking in to see
what's new. There's more, too. I also spent a couple of days
in Salt Lake City hanging out with friends there. My friend Anke
Summerhill , whose wonderful record I had the privilege of singing
on last year, put me up for a couple of days on her futon, and
I got to help a couple of other friends move into a new house.
Exercise is the hardest thing to come by on tour, so it felt
great to schlep some boxes and furniture and get my blood pumping.
Oh yeah - it's probably a significant detail that one of the
folks I was helping to move was Evan Brubaker, who is producing
my next record. After we got good and sore from moving we spent
a day talking about the record and recording rough versions of
the songs to make plans with. We've booked studio time in Seattle
for January, and I'm really excited about working with Evan and
the other musicians that will be in on the project. The only
really scary thing for me right now is that I need to write three
more songs between now and then. :)
Yesterday I got a package from Kathy & Josh in
the office that contained cool little stickers from the Parent's
Guide to Children's Media to put on the S.S. Bathtub CDs, announcing
that it is an award winner. Big fun. I'm enjoying the feedback
I'm getting from that record, from parents, kids, critics and
random adults who bought it for themselves. :) Thanks for the
support.
Six weeks down and six to go. Hope to see you somewhere
along the line. I'll check in sooner this time. I still have
lots to tell you about from this batch - the movie for instance,
and the residency in Wyoming. Actually, though, I think both
of those things will end up with their own whole sections on
this site before too long. Tomorrow I have a radio interview
in Eugene, then I'll be heading for several shows near San Francisco,
so today I'll wander down the coast on 101. For now, though,
it's check out time at the hotel, so I'll find some lunch and
get back on the road. The fog should burn off soon and I can
hopefully watch the water as I go.
Be good to you,
David
Orem, Utah - Saturday9/18/99
There's a song that will be on my next record called
Saturday, all about how cool it is to wake up on a Saturday
morning and realize you can roll back over if you want to. That's
how I'm feeling today. It's day 10 of my three month Fall tour,
and I'm relishing the fact that I only have to drive twenty minutes
to my show tonight, so today will be a lazy catch-up day. Tonight
I'll play my ninth show in ten days. They've been spread between
Florida and Utah, and most days have consisted of driving nine
hours or so, setting up, playing songs for people, breaking down,
driving a little more and finding a hotel. Not quite as glamorous
as some images of life on the road, but I'm having a good time.
I got out of Florida just before Floyd skipped up the coast,
and have had a hard time keeping my eyes on the road with the
Fall colors beginning to come out in this part of the world.
Just plain gorgeous. I love the canyon country that lies between
Evergreen CO, where I played the night before last, and Orem
Utah, where I played last night.
It's early in this tour, but I've already had some
adventures. The shows have varied from churches to house concerts
to a straight-up rock and blues club, complete with women's underwear
hanging above the stage (presumably thrown there by adoring fans...).
That was the night before last at the Little Bear in Evergreen,
where I opened for Buddy Miles. Buddy is a pretty legendary player,
having made up one third of the Band of Gypsys with Jimi Hendrix,
played with Stevie Wonder and Santana, and been the lead grape
on the California Raisins commercials (...no kidding). It was
a lot of fun to stretch out a bit musically and see if I could
win over a crowd of over two-hundred blues fans who had never
heard of me (well, I did have five people there to hear
me from my mailing list). It actually went really well. I played
some of my more rock and guitar-oriented songs, and the crowd
was amazingly enthusiastic, though they refrained from throwing
underwear.
After the show I helped the band schlep gear out to
their tour bus, where they would catch some winks while the driver
took them down the highway. Apparently the drill is that the
driver goes to a hotel and sleeps while they set up do the show
and tear down, then he drives through the night while they sleep.
Guess he's not much of a blues fan. At one point the lead guitar
player couldn't find his duffle bag that had been left with a
bunch of sound equipment on the porch while things were getting
loaded. It was sort of bizarre, but apparently it was stolen.
There was a bunch of valuable PA equipment there, and someone
took his clothes. The manager, the band and the sound guys tore
the place up looking for it, but to no avail. I helped look for
it, as I really felt for him, on tour with no clothes, but we
all chuckled at the sheer strangeness of a clothes bag being
stolen out of a pile of expensive equipment.
Since the driver was through with his hotel room at
2 AM when they pulled out, they gave me the key to use it for
the rest of the night, which was kind. When I got there, though,
I had to chuckle again. Seems that when I was packing up that
morning in Kansas I had pulled out of the parking lot with my
clothes bag sitting beside the van. That's what I get for laughing,
I guess. I had a few hanging things to wear, but had to hit the
first K-mart to buy a new toothbrush, deodorant, some socks and
underwear. Maybe it would have been good if they had thrown
some.
Nah...
So I pulled out the next morning in the same smoky
clothes I had worn for the show the night before. When I told
Kathy about it, she smirkingly suggested that I could wear a
David LaMotte T-shirt, but I couldn't bring myself to do that.
It's got my picture on it, for goodness sake.
Well, enough road stories, I have some really big
news to share. Josh called from the office yesterday to say that
he had just heard from the Parents Guide to Children's Media,
and the S.S. Bathtub, my
kids record that came out in December, just won a 1999 Parents
Guide Award. If you're not familiar with it, this is a very prestigious
award, and will mean some good publicity for it as well. It lends
a lot of credibility to the album, and makes me feel great, too.
Wahoo!
I'm currently playing at the Timpanogos house concert
series in Utah which has featured many of my favorite touring
singer/songwriters. The show was a whole lot of fun, but the
highlight of the night for me was when most folks had gone home
and two daughters of the host family, Liz and Katie, broke out
their fiddle and cello and started playing celtic music. I mean
REALLY playing. They are twelve and thirteen. Lindy and Colby,
who opened for me, a few other folks and their fifteen-year-old
sister Chelsea and I sat and listened with big stupid grins on
our faces. Chelsea kept reminding me to pick my jaw up so I wouldn't
lose it in the couch cushions, then I sat in on hand drum a little.
They just finished mixing a CD with their family band, Fiddlesticks,
which should be out in three weeks or so. Great stuff.
Those times sitting around after shows are often my
favorite part of the evening. Never know what's going to happen.
I like to pass my guitars around and see what other folks brought
in the way of music, and you get to have whole conversations
instead of sixty-second connections with people. Good livin'.
While I'm here in Salt Lake I'll be getting with my
friend Evan Brubaker to formalize plans for the next record,
which he'll be producing. We'll probably record part of it in
Seattle and part in Salt Lake, and maybe part in Asheville, putting
it together in the winter and early Spring and hoping to release
it before next summer.. I'm really excited about it. It will
be a heavier record in some ways, but I think it's the best collection
of songs I've come up with yet, and we'll have some great players
on it, including Michael Manring, the best fretless bass player
around. Can't wait to get to work on it!
Next week I head up to Gillette Wyoming to get started
on the Ropes and Writing Residency at Westwood High, where I'll
be for two weeks before hitting the road again to do the last
two-thirds of the tour (if you want to read a little more about
it, click on Old Notes From the Road below). Yes, it's a really
long time to be on the road by myself, but you make it worth
it. That may sound trite, but it's true. If you're still reading,
you're pretty interested in what I'm doing, which means you must
be getting something out of it, and that's enough reason. Thanks.
Keep in touch. Check out the discussion group clicker
off of the home page on this site if you're interested in talking
with some other listeners around the country. Pretty cool folks.
Peace on the journey,
David
Valencia CA 7/4/99
It's 11:11 in Los Angeles on the Fourth of July. I'm listening
to the last bits of fireworks popping in the night and saying
a little prayer that no brush fires will start. It's dry out
here on the left coast, and the local firefolks seem pretty concerned.
I'll be catching a plane home in the morning after
a few days out here. Finished up a weekend of meetings this afternoon
in preparation for a new school residency I'm working on with
Ropes Course Instructor Troy Lake, Dolores Longhofer, who works
with Arts In Schools in Gillette, Wyoming, and filmmakers Joe
Lunne and Paul Dowler. What began as a casual idea during a game
of racquetball with Troy last year has become a fairly detailed
plan for a residency which will integrate creative writing and
ropes courses and involve other students in the making of a short
documentary film about the writing/ropes residency.
If you don't know what a ropes course is, it's basically
an overgrown obstacle course built out of telephone poles and
steel wires, and sometimes trees, tires, etc. Many of the activities
require a great deal of group processing and teamwork, and others
demand quite a bit of courage. Some examples include a cat walk
across a telephone pole twenty feet off the ground, and sliding
down a forty-foot high zip line. Pretty intense stuff. Students
are harnessed and belayed by trained instructors and facilitators,
but the physical risks are pretty daunting. This kind of experience
presents a fine metaphor for the experience of writing, which
also requires risk and confrontation of one's fears, though in
a much different arena. I'm excited about working with all of
these folks and looking forward to getting back to Westwood High
in Gillette, where all of this will happen in the Fall.
Surely no shortage of adventure in my life these days.
Since I was coming out to the Left Coast for this meeting anyway,
I came out a few days early to attend my friend Jeff Emery's
40th birthday party in the Santa Cruz area. Along with being
a concert promoter and a folk DJ at KZSC, Jeff manages to squeeze
in a bit of time for his day job as a wine maker at Santa Cruz
Mountain Vineyards. Bunches of great musicians showed up at the
party, not to mention several wine makers, and fine specimens
of each art flowed until dawn. A couple of days later Jeff and
his wife (and my friend) Andrea took me to visit a friend in
the neighboring community of Bonny Doon to see Boomeria, which
is a castle, complete with catacombs, trap doors and hand-cranked
portcullises, not to mention a full-sized pipe organ. P.Q. Boomer
has built all of this with the aid of the many classes of high
school students he has taught since the fifties. It was quite
an amazing thing to see and I highly recommend that you stop
by to see it if you are ever in the Santa Cruz area on a Saturday.
If that's too much of a commute, check out the web site at www.concentric.net/~leboom/tour.
Big fun.
Bonus of bonuses, though. I also found out at the
last minute that it was going to be my friend Val's birthday
while I was in the bay area, so I got to be the surprise at her
surprise party. that was especially great because I was in cahoots
with another friend, Lisa, to get revenge because last Fall I
was a surprise guest at Lisa's birthday party due to scheming
by Val. So it was sort of the birthday tour.
This Fall I'll be heading out on what seems to have
become an annual three-month tour West, this time getting farther
north than I have been before, including a couple of shows in
British Columbia before heading south through Washington and
Oregon, California, Arizona New Mexico, Texas, etc. Hopefully
this path will connect with yours somewhere along the way. Though
the tour is pretty well planned there are still holes to be filled.
Feel free to check the calendar if you have a college, church
or other venue where you'd like for me to play some music, and
call Kathy or Josh to talk about lining up a show (800-995-6825).
Looks like Spring will also be taking me down under to Australia.
I'm hoping to spend a couple of weeks in March touring there.
Can't wait!
In doing some record-keeping recently I realized that
I've been spending an average of two thirds of my time on the
road. That means that in the last year-and-a-half I've spent
a year of it gone, rarely spending two weeks without leaving
town. Though that means I get to see a lot of interesting people
and places, it has squeezed out some other projects I've wanted
to take on, and has left me with little writing time. I'm trying
to prioritize writing lately, and that process is feeling good,
but I've decided to wait a little longer before recording my
next album. There are several reasons for that decision, but
the most important is that I'd like to have a longer list of
songs to choose from. Since this summer seems too soon, I'll
need to wait until January or so to get back in the studio. That
was a tough call to make, but I feel like it's the right decision.
Thanks for your patience. :)
Thanks, as always, for checking in. Even after eight
years I wake up amazed that this is actually my job, and that
there are enough people interested in my music for it to remain
so for now. So thanks again.
Peace to you,
David LaMotte
P.S. Oh yeah! Sorry it has taken so long to get another of these
on the site. My laptop crashed, so I've been behind on everything
computer-related. I just had a new computer shipped here to California
on Friday. It's a spiffy Mac G3 Powerbook. :)
West of Nashville in TN 5/14/99
It's 1:11 eastern time and I'm settled into a hotel
for the night, after the requisite post-gig Waffle House run.
Memphis tomorrow, then on to New Orleans and several shows in
Texas. It's funny to me that after all this time I still enjoy
traveling and don't even mind hotels... I guess it's just the
fact that somebody else makes the bed.
So much has happened since the last time I wrote one
of these that I don't know where to begin. Hmmmm, maybe I can
categorize and go from there. How 'bout cool stuff that's happened
lately and cool stuff that's coming up.
I've been having some good road adventures lately,
but among the most fun things I've done in a while was playing
less than three miles from my house. Black Mountain Primary school
invited me to be a part of their career day a few weeks ago and
I spent the day with several classes of third graders talking
about what I do for a living. I think there was a deputy sheriff
there, a CPA, a caterer, somebody else and me. The questions
were priceless. "Do you ever get a headache from all the
girls screaming and yelling?" "Do you ever, like, take
off your shoes?" and "Do you know N Sync?"
come to mind.
In addition to the third graders, some other cool
recognition has come my way recently. I got a CD and a royalty
check in the mail from a NY state artist named Mike Quimby who
recorded Hard Earned Smile on his debut album. That's the second
time I've had a song recorded by someone else (the first being
Jamie Ridenhour's recording of an obscure song of mine [I mean
even more obscure than the rest of them] called Lost to the World).
It's a real honor to have other people sing my songs. Must be
a little bit like having your child get married. I also received
a book in the mail a couple of days ago. It's called Facing the
Music, and is designed as a conversation starter for youth leaders.
The subtitle is "Faith and Meaning in Popular Music."
It's fun to browse through the credits and read "Sting,
Phil Collins, Metallica, REM, David LaMotte, Joni Mitchell, etc."
Pretty cool.
Perhaps the biggest news on the calendar right now
is that I'll be playing the new Grey Eagle in Asheville on June
11. Bert and Tyler, the owners, have been working hard to get
the place remodeled and ready for music, and it looks like my
first show there may be the first show in the new place. That
will also be an exciting night because my friend Mike Alexander,
who played bass on the kids' album, will be playing with me for
part of the night. He'll be bringing his electric bass, but also
his upright and cello. We've been getting together to practice
when I'm in town and I'm really excited for the rest of you to
hear what I've been hearing. If you're thinking about road tripping,
this would be the time. :)
The other news I need to share may not be as exciting
for folks. I've come to the hard decision to wait to record my
next album until next winter. I had hoped to do so this summer,
and I have several new songs that I'm really eager to put down,
but not quite enough for an album. If there's anything I've learned
from the five recordings I've done, it's that rushing a project
is a foolish thing to do. I've been really enjoying the process
of writing lately, and feel like my writing is improving, partly
due to great feedback from friends who are excellent writers.
It seems wise to let this one come in its own time, though. This
means that I'll probably get the next record out in late Spring
of 2000.
I could go on for a long time, but will end with one
last newsflash. We've got a new guy at Lower Dryad Music, and
we're very excited about it. If you've called for information
or booking in the last few months you may have talked with Kathy
or Aisha or Denise, who have been keeping the office rolling
while I've been on the road. I'd like to thank Aisha and Denise,
who've done a great job, and are now moving on to other things.
Josh Lamkin started last week, and Kathy and I are loving having
him there. I met Josh when he was doing booking at his college
several years ago, and since he's a songwriter and a good guy
we've kept in touch since then. Recently he moved to Asheville
and I jumped at the chance to bring him on board. He and Kathy
are working hard on the Fall tour right now, as well as keeping
the mailing list updated and the postcards rolling out on time,
paying all the bills, keeping the info line updated, doing all
the booking, dealing with the press, and a bunch of other stuff
that would be too tedious to list. I'm grateful to have him on
board. If you see any holes in the calendar that you would like
to fill with a show at your college, church or local listening
room give him a call and share a suggestion while you welcome
him on board.
3/1/99 (Chicago) - 3/3/99 (home [briefly])
Hey -
Thanks for checking in. I'm somewhere in the air between
Colorado and Tennessee on my way home from Albuquerque by way
of Denver and Chicago (...?). Me and several other folks are
busily typing away on our laptops, and I'm the only one not wearing
a suit. I'll be home for a couple of days, then heading out again
for some more shows. I want to use my time in town tearing my
kitchen apart, as I'm doing some remodeling there, so I'm glad
to have this time on the plane to catch up on these Notes From
the Road. Life is busy these days, but sure is good. Lots of
adventures.
The children's record is doing really well, and it's
fun to hear back from people about it. I keep getting comments
like "...but it's not REALLY a children's record" from
adults who are embarassed that they are enjoying it, but seem
to be getting good reviews from little ones too. Already my thoughts
are turning to the next record, which we may start recording
as soon as this summer. I've got over half of the songs I need,
and I'm giving a lot of attention to writing these days, hoping
to get the rest of them ready. The working project for the next
title is "Lens Cap," and it will most likely be produced
by Jeff Tarayla, who produced Hard Earned Smile.
Lots of fun stuff coming up on the web site, too.
First of all, my long time buddy Ben Senn has started a discussion
group at www.onelist.com.
If you go there and search on David LaMotte you can join up.
We'll put a clicker off of this site soon, but for now you can
go directly there. I spent some time in DC a couple of weeks
ago with John Gallagher, who does the design work on this site.
We mapped out some things we want to do. First, some backgrounds
to spiff things up a bit, then we'll be installing a photo album.
Watch for this to be added gradually over the next couple of
months. After that we'll be doing pages on the site for each
album that have basic information about the recording (who plays
on it, where it was recorded, when it came out, etc.), a picture
of the album cover, and the song list. Then when you click on
the song you will be able to read the lyrics. Eventually there
will also be a section with lyrics for unrecorded songs.
In the midst of all that, I'm also keeping a pretty
full gig schedule. Leaving tomorrow on a run that will take me
through South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky,
Ohio, Arkansas, and Tennessee again before coming home. This
after spending the last few days at the National Folk Alliance
convention, where about two thousand people sit around hotel
rooms and share music for four days or so.... and nights. Saturday
night I went to bed about 6 AM and there were still people playing.
That made getting up at 6:30 AM on Monday pretty tricky, but
so be it. I had to catch a plane early that morning because I
got stuck in Chicago overnight due to a mechanical problem. While
waiting around in the airport I broke out my guitar and ended
up doing a little show for some kids that were getting pretty
bored waiting. They gathered around and we had a big time playing
songs and learning about how guitars work. :)
The conference schedule was so full that sleep got
squeezed out almost entirely, but I did go a day early so I could
enjoy the area some before I leapt into the fray. That first
day was pretty amazing. Got up early and got in a van with some
other folks who were introducing themselves and trying to shake
off sleep and jetlag. We all went out to a big field next to
a mall where we met two other vanloads of folks, each with a
hot air ballooon on the back. The sun wasn't up yet, and the
dry desert climate was pretty cold without it, so holding the
balloons open while the pilots blew air into them got a little
chilly on the hands, but the sense of adventure was enough to
keep us smiling while we got everything set up. Then the sun
edged over the Sangre de Cristo mountains and things warmed up
remarkably quickly. The ballon ride itself was serene and foreign
and fun, all at the same time. We floated in low over the Rio
Grande and got a close-up look at a swamp that runs to one side
of it for a while. The beavers must have been puzzled, but we
enjoyed the view. The best part, though, was coming in for a
landing. We were about a dozen feet off the ground, coming gently
toward a nice big field beside a highway when the pilot changed
his mind and decided to head for another field on the other side
of the highway. We floated over the four-lane so low that we
actually had to go back UP to clear a light pole on the far side.
The motorists got a big kick out of it, and I think I got a picture
from just above the traffic that was speeding under us. That
was a grin.
You'd think that would be enough adventure for one
day, but I went home from that and caught up with my friend Kristin
from Austin, TX. We headed north in a rented car past Santa Fe
up to Ghost Ranch, where we spent the day hiking through the
canyon country where Georgia O'Keefe made her home. There's something
in me that is deeply drawn to things that are foreign to me,
and that terrain certainly is. Powerful and imposing and always
changing as the light shifts through the day.
So tomorrow I head out again. Who knows what comes
next? Thanks, as always, for your interest in my music. Hope
our paths will cross soon.
David
Corpus Christi, TX
November 20, 1998 1:00 AM
It's late November and I'm sitting on the balcony
of my hotel room on the ninth floor of the Econo Lodge looking
out over the Gulf of Mexico. There's a rock'n'roll cover band
cranking it out on the balcony of the bar across the parking
lot, so I might as well drop y'all a note. Sleep is out of the
question. :) Actually, it's kind of fun, if a little incongruous
with the sailboats in the harbor, the palm trees and the twinkling
lights across the bay. At the moment they're playing a Queen
song I listened to a lot in high school.
It's hard to imagine that the mountains of North Carolina
are easing through the transition from Autumn to Winter as I
sit here comfortably in shorts in the middle of the night. Probably
in the mid-seventies. I was talking to someone at a show recently
and they asked how my Spring was, or if I would be back in the
Summer, or something like that, and it actually took me a minute
to remember what season it is. I get fairly disoriented with
all the climate changes. It was the end of summer when I left
Black Mountain a little over two months ago, and it snowed in
Wyoming a month ago when I was there, was pleasant in San Francisco,
then chilly in New Mexico as I drove down from Denver. Nice to
get a last fix of warm weather before I head up to Arkansas this
week.
Changes in my life seem to be keeping pace with the
changes in the weather. I've hardly had time to feel the loss
of the Grey Eagle, which was my musical home until it closed
two weeks ago. This week, though, I have another difficult goodbye
to say. Grant Andrew, who has been my booking agent for the last
year and a half, called this week to say that he needs to close
the agency. It's been a great run, and it is hard for me to let
go of that. Grant's done great work for me, and in the process
we've developed a friendship that I will always treasure. He's
not far from the birth of his third child, though, and needing
to devote more time and money to his family than the demands
of the agency were allowing. Those are fine priorities, and I
can only respect the decision, as much as I hate to see WorkinFolk
go the way of the Grey Eagle.
I guess it's a seasonal thing. It's a truism, but
this time of year does make us face the necessary death of good
things to make room for more good things. Though there is nothing
certain there is still hope that the Grey Eagle will find a new
place to land, and I will certainly find a new way to deal with
the business of booking. For now, Kathy, who has been doing my
business management and publicity, will be handling my booking
as well. Grant's helping her get set up, and I have no doubt
that she'll handle it with her usual efficiency and good sense.
If you need to catch up with her you can call 1-800-995-6825,
or email DryadBiz@aol.com.
In the birthing department, there's the new kids'
record! The S.S. Bathtub is shipping Monday, so I'll have some
for my Thanksgiving show in Little Rock, and the orders that
have come in will start being filled in a few days. That will
be fun. Thanks so much for the continued support of that idea.
Frankly, you've been bugging me to death about it, and I appreciate
it! :) If you haven't checked it out yet, be sure to click on
the S.S. Bathtub icon to go to the page we've created about it.
Tonight I got to open for the Austin Lounge Lizards
at the Executive Surf Club here in C.C. I had heard them a lot
on WNCW, but this was my first time seeing them live. What a
blast! They played "Shallow End of the Gene Pool" and
"Put the Oak Ridge Boys in the Slammer," among other
classic Lizard tunes. Big fun. I look forward to being back here,
and in Texas in general. What a great state! And humble, too.
I just heard the lead singer of the bar band say "We'll
play one more," so I guess I'll wrap it up, brush my teeth
and keep that date with my pillow. Have to get up early to make
it to Dallas in time for the show there tomorrow. Ahhh, "Play
That Funky Music, White Boy." Nice closer, and certainly
words to live by...
Thanks, as always, for listening. I look forward to
the next time our paths cross.
Wishing you peace,
David LaMotte
9/21/98
Colorado
Greetings from the Motel 6 in Somewhere, Colorado. No, that's
not the name of the town, but I actually don't know where I am.
I guess I could call the front desk and ask, but...
Last night I was driving toward Boulder on I-76 and
the van started to feel a little wobbly. This could have been
explained by the high winds and rain that were rising up in my
headlights out of the dark featureless pavement, but the van
has handled really well in the rain so far. I turned the book
on tape off and heard the irregular rhythm of a tire slowly going
flat. Well, at least I didn't have to question the van's handling.
I found myself in a bit of a spot, though. 75 mph
speed limits are the norm out here and in the nasty weather I
didn't think it would be a good idea to try to change it on the
shoulder, so I rode the rim to the next exit hoping there would
be a gas station. No luck there, but there were a few houses
spaced out in the mile north of the interstate. I brought the
van limping along the shoulder to the first of these where my
headlights fell on three large metal signs on the gate. The first
one I read said "Stay off the porch." I thought this
might be some backwards reference to "running with the big
dogs," and I was only partially wrong. The sign to the left
of that one announced that the house was protected by Big Tough
Security, or some name communicating the same idea. The sign
below said "Warning: patrolled by Rotweillers." I got
the message and limped to the next house where I finally got
out and inspected the culprit by flashlight. Pretty far gone.
I could have changed the tire and limped back on to the highway
on three real tires and a doughnut, but I thought my spare might
be more of a liablity than an asset on the high speed highway,
so I called AAA and had them tow me to the nearest hotel where
I could get to a garage in the morning, either to fix or replace
the tire. AAA said it would probably be an hour, so I lay down
in the van and woke up to the tow truck driver rapping on the
door. He brought me to this Motel 6 and it turned out to be a
brand new and cheap motel, so I'm killing another night here
and catching up on some correspondence and paper work.
Tonight I'm working on liner notes for the kids' record,
which I will master tomorrow with Dave Glasser at Airshow Mastering
in Boulder. We're still hoping to have it manufactured and available
by mid-November. Keep checking in here for updates. I'm looking
forward to working with Dave again. It's a horrible pun, I know,
but he really is a master.
I also spent quite a bit of time on the phone today.
There is sad news in Black Mountain and the community is trying
to come to grips with a great loss. The word has just come out
that Halloween night will be the last show at the Grey Eagle.
Those of you who have been there will know what this means. For
the folks who haven't I'll try to be concise by simply saying
it's my favorite place to play music. I've performed there many
times in the last three years, and spent many other happy nights
in the audience, or just sitting with friends enjoying the community
that is at the heart of what I love about my little town. Some
of my most fulfilling moments performing have happened on that
stage, including recording my live record "Flying,"
opening for Arlo Guthrie, singing Amazing Grace with friends
at the recent benefit for Second Chance, the Here We Are release
party, and releasing Hard Earned Smile. I've shed a lot of tears
in that room, mostly from being powerfully moved as I sat in
the audience and drank in my addiction of choice - music.
This will leave a hole in the heart of Black Mountain,
and of the national songwriter community. The decision is clearly
made, though. The landlords are firm in their decision not to
renew the lease, and have other plans for the space. Some hope
exists that another space may be found, but it seems like an
outside chance, so I spent a long time on the phone today with
each of the owners doing some mourning and talking it through
together. They are certainly sad, but are also celebrating the
incredible things that have happened there. If you've had meaningful
times at the Eagle I encourage you to drop me a line and tell
me about them, as I'm collecting a few right now. If you haven't
been there and live within road trip distance I encourage you
to pick a weekend and go between now and Halloween. I'll be on
tour until well after then, so my last show there has already
happened, but there is a lot of good music on the books in the
next few weeks. Give them a call at 828-669-0777, tell them what
kind of music you like and ask what they'd recommend. I am grateful
to have had such a good show for my last time there.
So this time on the road is full of dichotomy for
me. The joy of travelling and getting to know some parts of the
country I've neglected until now is balanced by a real sadness
of loss in my own home town. The privilege of making new friends
is countered by missing friends and family at home. Life is good,
though, and I'm grateful for the challenges.
In two days I'll arrive in Wyoming where I'll be teaching
for a month as an Artist in Residence at the Alternative Transition
Center in Gillette. I'm really looking forward to being back
there, and will update you on news from there as that adventure
evolves.
Thanks, as always, for taking the time to listen.
See you on the road...
David
September 2, 1998
I'm sitting on the floor of Hollow Reed Recording Studio in Asheville,
NC where my good friend Chris Rosser and I are putting finishing
touches on my kids' record (titled The S.S. Bathtub, Songs for
Kids and Their Grownups). We have two days left of studio work,
and though we won't end up with any extra time I think we'll
get it done. Projects like this that involve a lot of different
people and a lot of unknown variables always seem to either fall
together or fall apart. This one, I'm happy to say, looks like
it's falling together. Tomorrow John McCutcheon will record a
couple of hammer dulcimer parts in Virginia and FedEx the digital
tape to us to mix with the rest of the instruments on Friday.
Yesterday Christine Kane recorded her vocals, today Laura Boosinger
brought her banjo by. Now there's only a few vocal parts that
I need to finish up and we're pretty much there.
That's a good thing, as I'm leaving on Tuesday for
my Fall tour and won't return from it until December 6. I'll
be dealing with some of the production of the CD from the road,
but I won't have to sing into any telephones. :) After that I'll
get a tape to John Gallagher, creator of the comic book series
Buzzboy, who will be doing the art for the CD booklet. Can't
wait to see what he comes up with. The art, printing and manufacturing
will take a bit of time, but we hope to have the album available
by mid-November. Keep an eye out here for pre-ordering deals.
Then I'll master the CD in Colorado with Dave Glasser,
who just won a Grammy this year for his work on a Smithsonian
Folkways project. Dave worked on my last couple of records, and
it's always a pleasure to see him again.
Hey! We've got new T-shirts! One is a simple blue
T-shirt, sort of that washed out color that makes it look like
an old comfortable T even when it's new. That one says "There's
nothing so true as the hope in a Hard Earned Smile" on the
front, and "www.davidlamotte.com" on the back. The
white ones have a photo collage on the front and the same quote
on the back. They're available here on the site or at 1-888-495-6575
if you want to check one out.
I'm looking forward to the tour. I've got 5000 miles
on the new van, so that should be enough to have it broken in
but not broken down. I picked up a small fridge for it, and plan
to build in some cabinetry before I go, so it ought to be a pretty
nice road trip. The first show is in Louisville, KY and the last
is in northern Georgia, and in between I'll play in Wisconsin,
Kansas, Iowa, much of the west and southwest including Wyoming,
Colorado and New Mexico, ramble around Texas for a bit and head
back through Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee before dipping
down to Georgia and coming home. Whew!
I'll miss my little house and my friends in NC, but
I look forward to catching up with far-flung friends on the road
(say THAT ten times fast). Cool things have been happening back
home this summer. We had a gathering last Sunday to send Michelle
off to Boston to go to grad school. Though the parting is sad,
the shindig was fun, and after five years of managing the business
side of my life I'm sure she's excited about the change of pace.
No more Taco Bell receipts to tally...
My sister Kathy, having just moved to town, will be
working at that job for a few months and getting some things
set up to teach the job to someone else in the Spring. She'll
also be handling promotional things, contacting radio and printed
press in the various towns where I'll be playing and things like
that.
There's good news from the other folks I work with,
too. Grant Andrew, who handles my booking, just signed two new
artists to his roster. One is Barbara Kessler, a dynamite singer/songwriter
from New England. She's got some cool things coming up this fall,
including a show at the Bottom Line in NYC and another show with
the Indigo Girls. If you want to check her out go to BarbaraKessler.com.
The other artist is Pierce Pettis, who I think is getting back
from Europe right now, where he's just done a tour for Polygram.
Pierce wrote the song You Move Me, which is found on the new
Garth Brooks record and will soon be found on a radio near you.
He's a formative influence of mine, so I'm really honored to
share an agent with him. I hope this means we'll get to do some
more shows together. I've enjoyed playing percussion with Pierce
on a couple of stages this year.
The third person who works on my career besides me
is Jimmy Landry, who owns ISG Records. He's just gotten my song
Hope onto a compilation CD put out by the magazine Crossroads,
which is a trade magazine that goes out to radio stations and
stores that work with acoustic music. Crossroads plans to put
out several of these, but this is their first, so I'm honored
to be featured on it. Another compilation just came out with
a song of mine on it, too. WNCW, the station I listen to when
I'm in NC just did a special edition CD called Tower Tracks which
consisted of songs recorded live on the air at their studio.
They chose my otherwise unrecorded song Dans La Louisiane for
that one. Big fun.
Well that's about all the news that fits, I guess.
Thanks so much for being interested enough to read all this.
Oh yeah - one more thing. This morning I sat on the edge of my
bathtub and took the four stitches out of my foot that were put
there a couple of weeks ago when I stepped on an oyster bed in
St. Augustine FL. If you caught one of the three shows I had
to do sitting on a stool you'll know how happy I am to have that
ordeal behind me. I really like to stand up when I play. Helps
me to be ready to get out of the way when people come flying
out of the mosh pit.
I'm updating tour dates tonight and several shows
will be added, so be sure to check in. I sure am grateful that
there are enough people out there who are interested in my songs
to allow me to make my living at this. Thanks for being one of
them. I hope we can catch up somewhere on this long rambling
tour.
Peace to you,
David LaMotte
August 19. 1998
When I see something I really want to do I usually try pretty
hard to make it happen. Not today, though.
I'm currently sitting at my folks' apartment in Florida
looking at the ocean. They're packing up getting ready to move
back to NC after working here for a year. It's breezy and warm
here and the clouds are puffy and sparse. All in all a perfect
day to go jump in the ocean and splash around. I'm not going
to, though, in spite of the fact that I normally would. It's
my nature to do such things.
In fact a couple of days ago was a great example.
I went down to St. Augustine to see a couple of friends. I had
promised to make dinner for my friend Katie and her new roomie
so we went to the grocery store to grab a few things. We had
picked up everything but the peanut butter when we rounded an
aisle at the front of the store and Katie got a look at the sky
outside. It was late afternoon and just starting to cool off
a little. She looked sort of far away and I asked what she was
thinking. She smiled and said "Oh, I was just thinking this
is the perfect time of day to go jump in the ocean." I said
"Great! Let's go!" and ran off to grab the peanut butter.
We drove a couple of blocks down to the ocean and
walked down to the water, where I kicked my shoes off and took
off my shirt and Katie and I both ran into the water - her in
shorts and a shirt and me in my long pants. There's something
great about breaking rules of convention like that. It feels
great to jump in the ocean in your clothes. Last time I did that
I think it was in a suit at a friends' wedding. I was elated
- running in at a long stride and yelling over to Katie how good
I felt. I think it went something like this: "Yeah! Man,
this feels good! I just love AAAARRGH!!! OUCH!" Something
like that. Right about that eighth step I took my left foot landed
on some sort of piling under the water. I don't know if it was
barnacles or oysters or what, but it shredded my foot up pretty
well. We spent the rest of the evening at the Emergency Room
where I got four stitches and a new tetnis shot, and I didn't
start making dinner until about 11:30. We were so hungry that
all three of us liked it a lot.
So today I can only watch the ocean. I'm not supposed
to get the sutures wet. I suppose I'll do my next few shows sitting
on a stool, which is not usually my preference. Sure glad it
wasn't a hand, though! In fact, it isn't even my driving foot.
I can elevate it while I'm driving. Speaking of which, the new
van just had it's first 3000 mile oil change. We're getting used
to each other, and I'm really looking forward to taking it out
on the road for my three month tour this fall.
We'll finish recording the kids' record in the next
three weeks, and it's scheduled to be out by mid-November. I'll
keep you posted.
I suppose there are worse fates than having to sit
and watch the ocean as summer fades from the Florida coastline...
Thanks, as always, for checking in.
David
July 20, 1998
Home
Well, I know it's called "Notes From the Road," but
I thought I'd be different this time and write from home. I guess
"the Road" leads here too every now and then. It sure
is a fine thing to be sitting in my papasan chair in my own living
room with the evening breeze rolling down off of the mountains.
Lots to be grateful for. Like crickets. And ceiling fans. And
windows.
I haven't left the house all day except to run by
the Grey Eagle and pick up some new T-shirts that came in today.
They came out well. The white ones have a big photo collage on
the front with this web site URL at the bottom, the Lower Dryad
Music logo on the sleeve and the words "There's nothing
so true as the hope in a Hard Earned Smile" on the back.
The blue ones have the same quotation on the front and the web
site URL on the back, and they're that cool shade of faded blue
that makes them look kind of like a broken in T-shirt even when
they're new. We're shipping all of them out to Indiana for a
big show I'm doing for 5000 Presbyterian youth there this Thursday,
but we'll make more right away, so feel free to call the toll-free
order line at 1-888-495-6575 if you want one (or any other stuff,
for that matter).
I'm also grateful for my friend John Gallagher, who
is doing lots of work on this web site right now. You've probably
noticed some changes, and I'm really happy about where this is
going. As we work on things I would really value your feedback.
Let me know what you like and don't like, or any creative ideas
that you have. It's for you, so your opinion matters. :) John
owns a company in Maryland that does this kind of stuff, but
he also creates very cool comic books about a tragically hip
teen super hero called Buzzboy who eats too much junk food and
watches too much TV and still manages to save the world every
now and then. If you want to check his comic books out, go to
www.skydogpress.com. The icing on the proverbial cake is that
John is going to do the album art for the children's CD I'm working
on. That should be a big grin.
Yep, I really am working on it. I know I've been promising
this kids' record for a long time, but it's finally actually
happening. We've been in the studio a few days already, and we're
hoping to wrap the whole thing up in the next five weeks, and
we're still shooting for November as a release date. I'm really
having fun with some of these songs. I hope you'll enjoy them
too. I won't give you the complete list of songs yet, as it may
shift a bit more, but look for that in about a month. By then,
I hope we'll have a page on the site for each of the albums I've
already recorded and a page for the kids' record too. I'm working
with some great musicians on it, too, including Christine Kane,
Beth Wood, Chris Rosser, Anne Lalley, David Cohen and Walter
Parks (of the Nudes). Big fun. Stay tuned... :)
Let's see... what other news. Oh yeah! Last night
I went to Atlanta to do an Asheville Writer's in the Round show
at Eddie's Attic with Chuck Brodsky, Walter Parks and Chris Rosser.
I volunteered to drive everybody, since I bought a new van two
weeks ago. :) It's an all-wheel-drive Chevy Astro and I'm really
loving it. We turned over 1000 miles somewhere in the middle
of the night last night. The Fall Tour will be a lot more comfy
than previous road trips.
Speaking of the Fall Tour, if you pop over to the
tour dates you'll see where I'm scheduled to play in the next
few months. I hope I'll see you somewhere along the road. And
if it doesn't look like I will, you can always set something
up! I play in little bitty towns to small audiences and in big
cities to big audiences and every combination in between (like,
for instance, tiny crowds in moderately-sized metropoli). If
you're interested in booking me for a show at your college, church,
coffeehouse, performing arts series, etc. call Grant Andrew at
the WorkinFolk Agency. He's my booking agent, and he'll be happy
to talk with you about possibilities, including creative ways
to put things together so that they are affordable and fun for
everyone involved. You can reach him at 1-800-296-6686, or WorkinFolk@aol.com.
It's funny how mundane domestic chores take on a certain
appeal when you spend the majority of your life away from home.
I'm off to do the dishes, and lovin' it. :)
David
April 15, 1998
Somewhere over Tennessee
Ten days left before I say goodbye to my twenties.
I'm OK with that. No, I am. Really.
It does sort of make you check in, though. Those decade
birthdays, especially. They make me look around and take a look
at where I've been and where I might be going. Lately just keeping
track of where I am can be pretty tricky. In a recent interview
I was asked how many states I've performed in, so I pulled out
my road atlas and checked them off in the table of contents.
Thirty-two. What really shocked me, though, was realizing that
I've performed in twenty-five of them in the last seven months.
That's a lot of oil changes, and a few tires, a new transmission
and, of course, a whole lot of songs.
Lots of road, for sure, which is mostly a lot of fun.
I'm having some good adventures along the way, from poking around
a castle built by a twenties newspaper tycoon in Illinois, to
dying Easter eggs with my niece and nephew in Princeton, NJ to
soaking in natural Hot Springs in Arkansas. And I guess that's
the key to the birthday thing for me. I know I get a finite number
of days here, and I don't know what that number is, so I guess
the main thing is not to waste them.
There have been a few other changes lately besides
changes in location. One of them you have probably noticed by
now, which is that this Web Site is no longer at Hidden Water.
After a couple of years of great work for me and other musicians,
Julie has decided to close the company. I enjoyed working with
her, but am really excited about the potential of the new site,
which is a little easier to remember - davidlamotte.com. I'm
getting several people involved in the design and construction,
and I think within a few weeks it will be better than ever. Please
let me know if there is anything in particular that you would
like to see on the site. I would really appreciate the feedback.
Among the most significant changes in the last year
has been working with the WorkinFolk Agency. I feel really fortunate
to be working with Grant. He's doing a great job, and has given
me back some of my time. That's a pretty great gift. He defies
the stereotype of sleazy agent types. On the current calendar
we've listed plans for where I'll be through the fall as well
as firm bookings, so if you see me coming near and want to talk
about how to get me booked to play at your college, church, local
coffeehouse, etc. Please get in touch. To reach Grant you can
call 1-800-296-6686 or email WorkinFolk@aol.com.
I guess having some great things to look forward to
makes the birthday thing easier, too. In a couple of months I'll
be starting work on the children's album that I've been promising
for so long. I'm also beginning planning stages for some workshop
weekends I would like to offer. In the last year I've taught
several workshops and classes, including a month long residency
in Wyoming, and was even invited to Drury College in Missouri
as part of their lecture series. Those experiences have been
enriching for me, and well-received by attenders, so I've begun
some planning for a retreat which will explore creativity. The
workshop will be titled Creativity and Practical Dream Following,
and will consist of several sessions over the course of a weekend.
It's still in the early planning stages, but I'm excited about
the possibilities. I'll be posting updates here as things come
together, so keep in touch.
I've written five new songs in the past six months,
and I hope I get the opportunity to share them with you soon.
As always, thanks for your time and attention. It's an honor
to play music for you. Here's to the next decade...
Wishing you peace,
David LaMotte
Nov. 25, 1997
Q: What do you call a touring guitar player with his finger in
a huge bandage?
A: Most people call me David
It's November twenty-fifth, and I'm typing slowly, as there is
a big white bandage on the middle finger of my left hand. I'm
thirty-one shows, one beard, three oil changes, fifteen states,
two flat tires, seven weeks, two stitches and many a song into
my tour. Hoping to have the bandage off and be able to play by
Friday, which is my next scheduled show. Between now and then
lie two days of driving and Thanksgiving.
Isn't it amazing how it takes a little adversity to
make us really grateful for things we never take the time to
acknowledge when things are sailing along? As soon as I realized
I had cut half way through my finger I was already feeling thankful
that I hadn't cut it off. OK, well maybe I took a minute to yell
at the swiss army knife, but it didn't take long for the awareness
of my close call to sink in and make me feel strangely blessed,
if a little short on good judgement. My misadventure wouldn't
have been cause for a new career even if I had lost a finger,
but it sure would have meant some unpredicted time off while
I came up with a new way to play. I was using my pocket knife
as a phillips head screwdriver, trying to install a car compass
in my little van when the knife slipped. It got as far as the
bone, but stopped there. When I told Grant, my agent, about it
this afternoon he insightfully pointed out that the emergency
room fee would have bought a mighty nice tool set...
At any rate, I'm sewed up and hitting the road again
tomorrow leaving Idaho for South Dakota. I'll spend Thanksgiving
driving, and that suits me fine. In three weeks I'll be home
and will get to sleep in my own bed for a few days before heading
out to spend time with my family at Christmas, catching up with
some college friends for New Year's, then going out to Gillette,
Wyoming for the month of January as an Artist in Residence. The
Spring will have me up and down the east coast and probably out
to Texas once more. Check in with the tour dates to see what's
happening. We're trying to keep them pretty current. By the way,
I got to visit with my friend Julie Meloni in California while
I was there. She's the one that runs Hidden Water, which this
site calls home[sic]. She told me that this web site has had
just under 30,000 hits this year! That sure is affirming. Thanks.
It's been an amazing trip so far. From walking on
the beach in Florida to waving back across the Gulf of Mexico
from Corpus Christi TX; picking wild edible mushrooms in the
Redwoods and eating them with pasta and wine bottled in my birthyear
in Santa Cruz, California; stumbling on great music on a night
off in a Tahoe bar. Actually I've heard a whole lot of great
music on this tour. But the real gems from the trip are the friendships.
I've deepened old friendships and formed brand new ones, and
I don't know what greater gift life can offer.
Happy Thanksgiving, whatever day you read this. Maybe
I'll leave this note on here for a while as a little reminder
...OK, and because it takes me a little while to get around to
updating it... Thanks, as always, for being interested in what
I'm doing.
Peace,
David
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