Monday, Nov. 1. Seattle, WA. The Can-Can.

Actually Seattle was the first show of the tour, on August 21. Though it was Sept. 1 when we hit the road in my minivan, first I flew out there to do two shows with a wonderful trio my friend Amy Denio plays in, AMA. Though Amy was off on a Tiptons tour this time, we stayed at her house with her roommates. It was interesting to be back in the same house where the trip started after two months on the road. I remembered the Psychic Barber sign from the last time I was in the neighborhood.

On Halloween I had the night off. I went to an open mic with Jim Knodle, a trumpet player and one of Amy's roommates, to hear some (as he termed it) "pick-and-grim." Here is an extremely tall singer-songwriter in a zombie costume. He had a great song about a heartless tow truck driver.

After that Jim and I went to get something to eat at Hattie's Hat Restaurant. I love this picture of him.

There glowing light in the background blur above is a woman with a fantastic umbrella.

On Nov. 1 I discovered that the reason the serpentine belt keeps coming off in my van is that when we replaced the belt tensioner back in Lincoln they most likely didn't put the splash guard back on. That's why this problem only happens when it rains. We're so busy each day until the end, with such long drives, that we probably aren't going to get it replaced, but just hope for dry weather. Here are some photos I took of trees on my walk back from where the van died this time.

I ran into my friend Abel at the C & P, wished I could have spent longer catching up. But I had to make it to a recording session with Bobby. We recorded my song "Sutherland" on the classical guitar I borrowed from my friend Melissa in Portland. I hadn't been to Bobby's studio before. It's a cozy studio, but there is room for this impressive hat collection.

After that it was off to the show, at the Can-Can with Bill Patton and Low Hums. The Can-Can is a bar at Pike's Place with reddish lighting, lots of curtains and a fun dressing room.


Both bands were really wonderful. I sang with Low Hums on their song "First Flower."

Low Hums

Bill Patton

Also I was rescued today. Dave Rabe (of Ron Wax) from Lincoln called up his buddy Doran who lives in Seattle to ask if I could borrow his guitar for the rest of my tour. (Melissa Rochford in Portland loaned me the classical, which I liked, but just for a couple of days). Long Live Doran (and Dave).

The Can-Can show was great, I liked the other bands so much.

There is a sad part of our visit, though, that I didn't want to talk about that at first. Which is that Tabla the dog, belonging to Amy's other roommate, Cindy, passed away while we were there. Tabla was a wonderful large old dog. Seeing her go was heartbreaking. Rest in peace, most dignified beast.

Saturday, Oct. 30. Olympia, WA. Le Voyeur.

Olympia, Washington is a fitting place to be on Halloween, or the Saturday night right before it. The Westside Arts Walk was on, 17 house shows in one night. My show was downtown instead, at Le Voyeur, but I did play a short set at the Square One house venue, right before the Olympia Free Choir.

We stopped at another of the house shows and viewed The Haunted Hot Dog Zombie Zoo From Hell. Click to enlarge.

Caitlin, with whom I'd perform later that night, took us to Hall of the Woods, an old barn or church (it's unclear) in the forest near Black Lake. At Hall of the Woods they were having a ceremony for the dead involving a beautiful altar made of fallen leaves. We ate vegan soup and hash with the hall's residents and friends in the glowingly warm kitchen.

After that we went down to Le Voyeur for the show.

The performance space is in a madly graffitied back room. The venue takes an unapologetic version of the very hands-off approach to shows I've seen at many quirky dive bars. This was vividly illustrated by the back room's amusing sound board. Actually I didn't see the sound board, as the mixer is padlocked inside a wooden box, with a sign that says the levels are pre-set and that you just need to turn on the power strip below. XLR and quarter-inch cables escape from the box through holes drilled in one side. The bar staff explained that this eliminates the need for a sound man, but still prevents bands from blowing the speakers, as they might were they to have access to the controls.

The back room was draped in dead corn stalks, for the season. I played first.

Caitlin played next; her project is called Autococoon. Her music is friendly/aggressive/strange.

The last band, Making Love, introduced a crazy old regular named Dan Avery to be their pre-show. Dan told a story (true??!?!?) about his father forcing his brother to kill their childhood dog by pouring acid onto the dogs head. Holy shit. Making Love, also, was a trip.

This was a very entertaining evening. To be honest, though, I was still upset about losing my guitar in Eugene. Here I am am attempting to find a quiet moment in a corner of the bar, hiding among all the trippy bric-a-brac of Le Voyeur.

I kept trying to take pictures of all the wild costumes parading down the streets outside, but the pictures all turned out blurry. No Masks In Store.

Oct. 17 & 18. Chicago, IL. Schwag City & Derp Haus.

We headed out to Chicago for a few days.

We played a trippy show at Schwag City. There was another touring band, from Alaska, and their mic was a phone.

The next day was the inaugural house show for Derp House in Logan Square. We were greeted by intense Halloween decorations and a hand-drawn diagram.

Art and bicycles at Derp Haus

I played in the backyard, with a fire pit and a parking platform that works perfectly as a stage.

S'mores were made.

Woj and Josh opened up the show.

I played next.

Brune-Juice and the Jigsaws finished up the night.

Chicago was a good time. Derp Haus put on an excellent house show.

"Ale" at the used car lot

The display screen on my digital camera is broken now, just a swirl of psychedelic colors. So every photo is a surprise.