So we’re back home, in beautiful Seattle, but I have still have a ways to go in the tour. I enjoy talking about it, and hopefully you guys enjoy reading about it, so I’ll keep going.
Okay…with the end of the Phoenix show came one of our monster drives: 10 hours overnight to Telluride, Colorado. Jason and Nathan knocked out the majority of the drive and a couple of the rest of us filled in the gaps. Unfortunately, we had just missed tourist season, as Telluride is a big ski town, but we had an opportunity to put on a show for the locals there, make an impression for next time, and make at least one new fan (albeit a four-legged one that came into the club late). Regardless, the hospitality was exceptional; we had rooms at a nearby lodge and the staff at the Fly Me to the Moon Saloon treated us well. Plus, who can beat that view?
After Telluride came Sol, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. On the way there, while talking to the venue owners, concerns were rising that it may be not be worthwhile to perform at Sol at all; there was some confusion on the date, there had not been time to properly promote, and the efforts we had made to promote had produced little result. But this was also the only show on the tour where we had the opportunity to collaborate with our old friend and influence, Joel Ricci, aka Lucky Brown. Joel had been in Taos working on playing and recording music with the lovely Ivy, to whom he is married, and they had driven to Santa Fe to do a special show with us, which was another factor to consider in deciding whether to do the show or not.
Ultimately, we decided to play, and I think it was a success! Several regular supporters of the venue were there, as well as 2 local bands and a group of listeners that had driven from out of town to see us. The gratitude they showed us doubled the turnout in my mind. The room sounded great, we played well, and to perform with Lucky always keeps things fresh and new, so it was a timely show in that sense, a week and a half or so into the tour.
We had a day off in Santa Fe, and luckily we had the hospitality of some of Ben’s family, who allowed us to stay at their house. It was a much-needed 24 hours of laundry, sleep, decompression, and Game of Thrones (for some of us). As she did allllllll tour, Lauren rocked the meal plan! We would have been feeling a lot worse without her keeping stuff organized and cooking amazing food for us.
Next up was Texas: Houston and Austin. More on that next post!