I have a 10 new “Fan Exclusive” songs just for YOU. Over 40 Minutes of New Acoustic Songs.

To Listen... Go to: http://www.reverbnation.com/danvaillancourt and scroll down to the bottom of the song list and you'll find 10 fan exclusive songs.  Click on one of them and you should see a spot to log in to get access to them using either your e-mail address that is already on my mailing list or a ReverbNation account.  If you aren't on my mailing list yet, there is a place to sign up... Then you can stream all 10 fan exclusive songs.  (If it is making you log in for EACH song... then refresh your browser and you should have access to all of the songs without having to log in for each song..)

Most of you know that I have written many hundreds of songs but have only “officially” released a fraction of those and I want to share more songs with you, so I started the Acoustic Demo Project.  I've always loved simple acoustic recordings of songs, so grabbed a cheap acoustic guitar and sat down and recorded some songs.  In a day where people can digitally edit every aspect of music, I've decide to keep it simple and real and recorded these songs using only one microphone... What you hear is exactly how it happened, just like you are sitting in the room with me... creaky chair, a few flubbed notes and all.  These songs are all unreleased, although you may have heard a few of them in concert, on Youtube or one of the bootleg recordings.  If people seem to like the idea, I plan to continue to record and post more songs in this series.

The Acoustic Demo Project Volume 1 & 2 - Brief Description of the songs:
Cecilia's Melody – March 2006  - A song inspired by St. Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians.
Fallen Angel - March 2006 - One of my favorite songs that I never play.  Rock and Roll.
First Mistake – January 2006? - An unfolding story of broken love and misunderstandings.
Gunpowder – June 2008 - A story of a sugar-coated talker and the girl that keeps coming back.
Ghost – October 2007 – Proof that I listen to a lot of late-night talk radio.
Photographs – April 2005? - A song written while on tour written after looking at a set of photographs.
Somebody Else – September 2004 – Written after a series of late night walks while suffering from a bout of insomnia. 
Stainglass Eyes – December 2005 – Jazzy song using artists/artwork as a metaphor for love.
Stranger Than Strangers - May 2007 – It can be easy to see people for who you want them to be instead of who they really are.
Tomorrow's A Gift – December 2007 – Life is short. Tell the ones that you love that you love them.

Though various recent events, I've realized that I write songs for myself but I make albums for people like you.  I know that YOU are smarter than me when it comes down to which songs I should put on my CDs, so I would love some feedback on what songs you'd like to hear on my next studio album... You can pick from the songs on the Acoustic Demo Project or any others.  If you have input of what kind of  instrumentation or anything else... let me know!  I'll take it all into consideration when I make my next album.  :)

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Looking for more music?  You can get albums starting at $6.99... Buy them at iTunes, Cdbaby, directly from me, and more... http://danvaillancourt.com/merch.php 
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Are you on FACEBOOK?  I spend much more time there... Let's be friends. :)  http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan_Vaillancourt/669041868

I've been on a songwriting rampage this past year... and doing all sorts of songwriting challenges... Now I'm attempting the marathon of songwriting challenges... The 50/90 Challenge.  To write (and record) 50 Songs in 90 Days! (July 4th to October 1st.)  I want you to come along for the ride!  I've decided to post songs, lyrics, rambles and more on a blog so you can follow along! 

Go see/hear for yourself: Dan Vaillancourt's 50/90 Blog

Remember that Songwriting camp I went to last year?!  Want to hear the songs I wrote?  Go to www.charliefest.com and listen to the streaming player on the side of the page.  I cowrote 3 of the songs that made it to the compilation: 5, 6, and 11... and I even play a little lead guitar on 7.

My new studio record follow up to Melodic Snapshots has been in the process for over a year... I figure you should know a little bit of background about the making of this record to understand what is going on a little better. Let me catch you up on the past and bring you up to the present.

Overview: I'm working back and forth between my home studio and with producer Ric Hordinski's Monastery Studio  in Cincinnati, OH. Ric has produced a lot of amazing music for Ellery, David Wilcox, Phil Keaggy, and many more... Not to mention his guitar playing has been a big influence on me ever since my friend Ash gave me one of his CDs back in 2002. Ric has played all over the world, been nominated for a Grammy and has shared the stage with folks like Moby, Johnny Cash, Ben Harper, Bruce Cockburn, Adrian Belew and the Indigo Girls... and believe it or not... he has managed to remain a down to earth guy that I've watch Flight of the Concords videos on YouTube with while waiting for music to load and have eating Indian food with while sitting cross legged on the floor. Our music making philosophies are a perfect match... It has been an amazing experience to make music with him.

The Rhythm Section: First off, I recorded acoustic demos of all the songs at my home studio and then February 2008 I went down to The Monastery Studio in Cincinnati to have Josh Seurkamp  play all the drums and percussion in one day. I did a little work here and there until I got my friend Matt Henninger  to come up to my little studio to play all the bass (except one song that I played on) for the record.

All My Stuff Section: I did a bunch of recording during May and some of June, then I toured all summer... then I did some recording during September and then I toured through most of the fall... My recording computer broke in December... After some repairs and upgrades... It proved to be a lost cause of a computer that was too old and slow and I finally had to borrow some money to get a new computer in February. In February, despite starting the month out with the flu, I broke in the new computer by writing and recording 14 songs for the FAWM.org  songwriting challenge and also worked on the record too. March was the marathon month for finishing up all the parts of the album... Most of my parts (guitars, vocals, lapsteel, organ, beatbox, etc...) were done.

The Icing Section: I brought in the big guns to my home studio to add the icing to the record... lucky my family and friends have big guns. :) Two members of the band Drake came out to help me with the record. Eric Engblade sang, played some harmonica, and bbq chicken pizza! Emily Carlson added all the strings parts and ate some vegan food. Then my dad played some banjo and mandolin... My mom and sister Beckie added some background vocals. Thomas Boles added some of those California vocals.

The Monastery April 2008 Trip 1: I made another trip to the Monastery in April on my way to down to GA to do a few things... Ricky Nye came in fresh off of a session with Bootsy Collins to play some funky B3 organ. My good friend Ash Peacock drove up from Florence, KY to grace the record with his voice. Ric and I re-amped a bunch of the electric guitars that I played... which basically means sending an electric guitar signal that has already been recorded back through a guitar amp and re-recording it. Fun stuff!

The Monastery April 2008 Trip 2: After spending the better part of Tuesday and Wednesday doing final little edits and redoing some vocal parts... I set off for the 375-mile journey down to Cincinnati. I got to the studio's apartment about 2:30am and got some sleep so I could get up in the morning to start working on mixing the new record. On April 17 and 18, Ric and I worked quickly attempting to mix the entire album in two days. I think of myself like a rough carpenter roughing out the general shape of the songs with all the parts I recorded and then Ric is like the finishing carpenter making all the musical parts fit in there nicely and sound good. Ric got out the guitar and played on a song too. I had my first ever 5-Way... Cincinnati Chili that is... at Camp Washington Chili.  For all the time I've spent in Cincinnati over the years it was something that needed to be done and it was a fun experience.

We started mixing early and mixing on the second day only taking a little break to eat some Indian food... we did a pretty good job of trying to get everything done in two days but at the end of it we decided to let the songs breath for a few weeks and listen to the mixes and come back to make whatever changes we may need to... at the end of May.

Tour Journal From the Studio April 17th, 2008:

This section of the tour is the part were I had the best chicken wings, scone, and waffle I've ever had and certainly one of the best lattes... and I drove a lot and played some music too.

Please forgive spelling and grammar... I typed it quick to get it all posted for ya'll.

April 1st-6th 2008

Georgia
New Orleans to Atlanta is 500miles... That is a long way to drive... I made it though... just in time for the show at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA. I played as part of the open mic shoot out... 20 or artists from around the country all perform and everyone gets judged and it is a whole big thing... but for me it is a fun night to go and play a few songs and listen to a night of good music... I was so tired from driving that I nearly fell asleep though... haha. I ate some good quasi-mexican food and then went to bed.

Alabama
Left GA but not before I ate at Wafflehouse... The guy that was cooking was perhaps the best Wafflehouse cook I've experienced. The food and coffee were actually really great. You know it is about time that Wafflehouse added biscuits to their menu. ha. I drove into AL and I spent a couple days in a cheap little called the Key West Inn or something in Oxford, AL... I spent a couple days working on my laptop and making budget tex-mex in my microwave in my room... haha. It was nice to stay in one place for a couple nights and recoup a little from driving... I'm not used to having days off on tour but it was good since I'd driven so much. April 3^rd I went over to Birmingham to play at Java and Jams again... I had quite a few folks tell me that they were coming out and I was excited but... no one came out... not one person came through the doors all night to see the show... or at all really. It was fun to try out a bunch of new/obscure stuff on the manager and the owner's wife and her daughter... It was fun to hang out and play for them all night but it would have been nice to have some people come out. I hadn't really eaten a proper meal in a couple days and saw this place that said hot wings and fried fish in big neon letters... For some reason this intrigued me and I had to see what it was all about. It was an interesting little soul food type place that literally served only fried catfish, wings and gizzards... and fries. It seemed to be run just by the owner and his wife... I ordered the special because I really had no idea what to order... while I was waiting I chatted with the owner and a couple that was inside eating, about politics and such... It was a good close and a nice little conversation to end the evening... I got my wings, fries and pineapple lemonade... It was actually really awesome... best wings I've ever had... and I then went to bed.

Kentucky
I stopped back at Java and Jams to grab a cappuccino and scone for the drive out of town... and that apple cinnamon scone was the best scone I've ever had. I drove up to E-town in Kentucky back through Nashville and through the rain and floods... I stopped at the funniest little truck stop in middle-of-nowhere Alabama and I saw matching father and son mullets. I know that you are jealous. Haha.

I got there early and chatted with Bruce and Carla and everyone at the Backstage Cafe. Elizabethtown is always a good time filled with new faces and familiar faces alike. Everyone comes in and stays and listens for the whole show. Even Hibby was there... I haven't seen him in a while... It was like the old days back in 2003 or whenever that was that I first started playing there. I stayed in the sketchiest motel ever for $23.99. haha.

Ohio
I left and had only a few hours to drive and some time to kill before the show so I took a little detour to Rabbit Hash, KY. People have told me about this place and I finally got to go check it out... After driving 15miles which amounted to an hour of maneuvering though curving backroads through beautiful scenery, I made it to the Rabbit Hash General Store... Lots and lots of motorcycles parked outside with a crowd of bikers drinking beer outside... and a smattering of tourist checking out the sites... Rabbit Hash is one of the oldest settlements on the Ohio Riverfront and they have a dog for their mayor! It is a fun little place that has remained virtually unchanged for nearly two centuries. They have music and stuff sometimes there too. Learn more here: http://www.rabbithashusa.com/
I took a little video of the place... I felt like too much of a dork to go walk over by the general store whilst talking to myself though.. haha.

I made it to Rohs Street and got there early enough to have a latte and use the wifi... The whole night was a lot of fun! I got to play and got to listen to the music of Venus Mission, Greg Mahan, Brandon Dawson and Sharon... It was a great night of wonderful music... and those lattes are one of the best I've ever had... They really know how to make coffee and it even is all fancy with designs in the froth! Speaking of awesome... Waffles! I had a waffle from some waffle guy's stand and it was the best waffle I've ever had.. hands down. http://tastefrombelgium.comYum.

Indiana to Michigan.
I woke up in Florence, KY and then took a pleasant little drive to Indianapolis and it was an awesome day! I made it to Lazy Daze and got to hear Chris Ayer play some music and then I set up outside because it was a beautiful day outside... sunny and warm... I played for over two hours straight... Katie and friends, Robin, and Emily and Co. all came out along with many other random traffic folks... It was so wonderful to play outside. Emily and her friends took me out to dinner and then I made the 350mile trek home.. and I went to bed dreaming of the days of cheap gasoline...

I thought I’d quick write a few words for you to let you know how the tour is going... please forgive mispellings, grammar or other such things... :) and the fact the Myspace isn’t letting me turn off the bold font... haha...  Love you guys!

March 2008: 
WI:  This Tour has been great so far... lots of driving though...  I’m over 3000 miles for the last two weeks... The WI shows with Thomas Boles (and Beth Klemme for a couple) were all awesome and of course to see all the wonderful folks in WI and chat it up was lots of fun.  Thanks to all my WI friends that make me not want to leave...   Thomas and I drove back from Appleton, we made a little coffee stop at 8th street in Escanaba and made it back in the middle of the night after we made a stop at a little 24 hour diner in Clare to eat some late night food... Mmmm.

OH, KY, TN, GA:  I had a great time playing at the Global Gallery in Columbus, OH with Thomas and Eric Nassau... Everyone sounded great and had a great time chatting with friends old and new... and my espresso ice cream shake thing was awesome!  I spent the day on Thurs with Ric Hordinski at Monastery Studios in Cincinnati, OH working on the new album... we re-amped all the electric guitars, Ash Peacock sang, Ricky Nye came and played some organ... an all around good time... Ricky Nye played a recording session with Bootsy Collins the day before... haha... Bootsy one day and me the next. :) Wow. After a day in the studio playing with vintage guitar amps and other fun stuff... we drove down through KY and made our way to Nashville to sleep and eat... and I had to show Nashville to Thomas. Next day we headed to Atlanta and I kicked Thomas out at the airport.

GA, AL, LA: Dropped off Thomas and picked up Erin at the Airport... Drove down and stayed in Mobile, AL... Which made for a good 12 hour driving day for me. On Saturday we drove down along the coast through Biloxi and Gulfport... Drove around New Orleans for a quick tour of the city before we went and parked the car to stay near the French Quarter for a couple days... It’s sad to see the devastation of whole gulf area but it is good to see it started to come back too... The next couple days were spent eating great local food (beignets, red beans and rice, po’ boys, gumbo, alligator sausage, etc... Mmmm... Love it!) Heard some good music, walked lots of miles, took a historic walking tour, heard great street music... saw some ummm... craziness on Bourbon Street... Love, Love Love the city! We had so much fun... Didn’t want to leave but I had to go and make the 500 mile drive back up to Atlanta to play at Eddie’s Attic...

...That’s were the video takes us to... I’m Posting from AL... More on the rest of the trip to come.

Thanks for reading! You are all awesome. If you are near one of the shows come out and tell friends...

Hmmm... I have $12 left in my pocket... So if you need some CDs, T-shirts, Special Deals, or just want to send me some gas money... It’d be awesome... Do it at the new merch page!  http://www.danvaillancourt.com/merch.php

-WHAT IS THE SONG OF THE WEEK SERIES?
The Goal is to release 50 songs (5 Groups of 10 songs) in 2008... Who knows maybe I'll even through an extra couple in there is make 52... one for each each. Each Song will be only 99 cents or you can save a couple bucks by buying each series all at once. I'm going to try and include a notes about each song... Scroll down to read them!

-WHAT SONGS WILL BE INCLUDED?
New Songs, Old Songs, Unreleased Songs, Stories... all sorts of surprises! There will be lots of songs, stories and versions of songs that haven't been on any album before. I have a lot of ideas of what to do with this series... Feel free to let me know if you have suggestions of songs you'd like to see as part of the song of the week...

WHY?
Reason 1 -New Way to Release Songs-
I have written a lot of songs... Many of which are not available on any CD yet. I am always trying to find new ways to get you more music... Since 2000, I have released two studio records, two official live CDs and four live CDs as part of The Bootleg Series. The music business has changed a lot in the last few years and has been headed more and more towards digital music. I think this is a good thing because I can get more music to YOU faster. By the end of the year, if you get all of the songs... You'll end up with the equivalent of 5 new albums worth of songs. Lots of people miss having the liner notes when they buy digital music, so that is why I am including song notes with each song... It'll be like getting detailed liner notes with each song. (Read that below.) It is going to be cool.

Reason 2 -Funding New Studio Albums-
I started working on my new studio album with Grammy-nominated producer Ric Hordinski nearly a year ago. I work on the songs back and forth between my little studio and Ric's Studio in Cincinnati. I have become pretty good at making and promoting records on a relatively small budget compared to many nationally touring independent artists... But making a new studio record still costs a lot of money between studio time, updating equipment for my little studio, manufacturing the CD, promoting the album, etc. I don't make very much money when you take into account living costs, travel costs, rising gas prices, etc... It is only with the help of YOU over the years that have allowed me be able to continue to pursue a career in music. The Song of the Week is going to help me continue to do music and I've figured out that if each person on my mailing list or my myspace friends buys even a percentage of the songs of the week... I should be able to fund the new album. That is the power of people! Together WE can DO this. Each song is only 99 cents. We both win because you get a new song... and I am 99 cents closer to finishing my new album. :) Everyone has 99 cents and it is an easy fun way to help to be part of funding my new album. Buy a song or 10 and tell your friends.

WHERE CAN I BUY THE SONG OF THE WEEK?
Buy it at NIMBIT: http://www.nimbitmusic.com/danvaillancourt

THANKS.
I am going to thank you in advance for checking out the Song of the Week. You are so great for supporting me through the years. You are all part of any successes with my music. I love you guys.

::SONG DETAILS::

Week 1 –
Song: Could I
Date: 11.13.05
Venue: Uncommon Ground in Chicago, IL
Notes from Dan: This was recorded the week after 'Melodic Snapshots' was released at one of my favorite concerts at Uncommon Ground.   There is about a minute of banter at the beginning of track about following your dreams...  I love the fact that I can hear the very distinct laugh of the sound engineer a little bit after the Harry Potter reference. I had a lot of great shows that month because I was still running off of the energy of the big CD Release Party.  I got the fade out at the end of the track by backing off of the Microphone.

Week 2 –
Song: I Am Your Radio
Date: 11.13.05
Venue: Uncommon Ground in Chicago, IL
Notes from Dan:  This is recorded at the same concert as the first Song of the Week... Since Melodic Snapshots was just released I "should have" been playing all the songs off of that record but in addition to that, I also pulled out a bunch of new ones also... including this one.  This song is fun for me because, people like to come up and tell me songs about singing in the car after the show when I play this one.  Ha ha. I thought it would be funny to sing the "she sings slightly off key" line out of tune on purpose the second time through... There will be a studio version of this song on my studio album that I am working on to release in 2008. 

Week 3-
Song: Way You Loved Me
Date: 7.02.07
Venue: Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA
Notes from Dan:  Eddie's Attic is one of the Premier Singer-songwriter clubs in the country and it is always an honor to be on the stage.  I love the recordings here because they really give you a good sense of what it actually sounds like to be in the room listening to the performer.  The audiences are always awesome here too... They listen.. and clap... and even yell out things when appropriate.  Listen at the end of the song and when people are clapping you can here someone yell... "Eat Your Heart out __________!"   I assume they are saying some name here... I can't make it out... can you?  E-mail me if you know what they are saying. Haha.

Week 4-
Song: Satellites
Date: 7.02.07
Venue: Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA
Notes from Dan: The tracks starts out with a little bit of banter about it being really hot outside in the South... in my car with no air-conditioning.  When I told them that I was going to Texas and someones yells... "Have Fun!" ...Sounds like the same guy that yelled out in the last track.  I remember being on stage during this song and looking out in the crowd and having this really amazing connection with the audience... It was amazing.  

Week 5-
Song: Give Up
Date: 7.02.07
Venue: Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA
Notes from Dan: Every Monday at Eddie's Attic there is a Open Mic Shoot Out and people come from all over the country and 20 people sing two songs and everyone's songs and performance is judged... The talent is always amazing and it is always a fun night for me to play and listen!  At the end of the night the judges pick  three artists to come back up and do one more song. I got picked and this was the song that I played.  The judges then pick a winner with competes in the finals which include the winners of the last six months of Monday nights.  The girl that beat me (Miss Tess)... won the whole thing.  :)  I do a little rant at the beginning about doing music for a living and college and all that jazz...  The track starts out with and ends with Eddie himself.  He is the nicest guy and has always had some encouraging words for me after the night was done... Hope to be back soon.

Week 6-
Song:  Starless Nights
Date: 6.20.03
Venue: Concert in the Park in Valle Crucis, NC
Notes from Dan: I wrote this song sitting in my room in my first college apartment at Casa Loma in Mount Pleasant, MI.  Before school started, I remember people running around outside having a good time but I didn't know anyone because I had just transferred there... so I sat in my room and wrote this song and would sing it with the window open hoping someone would hear it.  This track was recorded nearly a half-decade ago... I still have such fond memories of this show.  I think this must have been my first East Coast Tour and a couple weeks prior I was playing Boston, Philadelphia, NYC, etc for the first time... then I spent 5 days playing shows with my friend Chadd Watson in NC... This show was outside in a park in Valle Crucis, NC.  People were sitting all around on blankets and lawn chairs surrounded by an amazing view of the blue ridge mountains... I  had have vivid memories of having an amazing view of the sunsetting in the mountains during the concert.

Week 7-
Song: Cecilia's Melody
Date: 8.20.06
Venue: Uncommon Ground in Chicago, IL
Notes from Dan:  This is a song about Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians.  I wrote this song about the time things started really taking off for the Melodic Snapshots album around the country and a lot of good things were happening. Many of my songs (including this one) just "come to me" and I just write them down.  I had a melody pop in my head with some line about the saints and Saint Anthony (Doctor of the Church and patron saint of lost things) which prompted me to do a little google  research about the saints and I thought it was kind of funny when I realized that pretty much every occupation has a patron saint... and I looked up the patron saint for musicians and found out about Saint Cecilia.  I like the thought of someone looking out for me.  Saint Cecilia has inspired many great artists throughout the centuries.   It might just be fanciful thinking but I like to think that Saint Anthony helped me "find" out about Saint Cecilia and this is the song she gave to me.

Week 8-
Song: Angels
Date: 8.20.06
Venue: Uncommon Ground in Chicago, IL
Notes from Dan: This is the kind of songs I would write if I played in a rock band.  It is actually one of my favorite songs that I have written but I don't play it live very often... It's not on any CD yet but I'm looking forward to recording a full-band version of this song someday.  Lots of folks have told me they like it so... Here it is!

Week 9-
Song: Slide Up
Date: 12.29.07
Venue: The ELCA Gathering 2007 in Lansing, MI
Notes from Dan: This was from a concert I did in Lansing for the Michigan ELCA Gathering. The last 25 minutes or so of my last concert that I did for the 2007 Gathering, I let the audience pick the last songs of the set in case there were songs that I hadn't played yet that they wanted to hear. Jim (from the  Rock and Roll Camp that I teach at) yelled out, 'Slide Up!'  All of the Rock and Roll campers have a fascination with this song and always try to get me to play it... I wrote the song back in 1999 or 2000 I think... which is a long time ago and don't play it much any more so I get nervous that I will forget the lyrics.. but I actually remembered them...  There some of the crazy guitar stuff at the end.  Sounds like Will (three year veteran of Rock and Roll Camp) says, 'Yeah Dan' at the end.... and if you know Will... that is just funny. Ha!

Week 10-
Song: Rain or Tears
Date: 4.24.05
Venue: Uncommon Ground in Chicago, IL
Notes from Dan: This song appeared on one of the CDs in the bootleg series but I had edited out the story for that CD.  I went back to the original audio and left the rambling story about how I wrote this song in a dream on the track... and I remastered so I think it sounds a little better.  I had a dream that I wrote this song backstage of a concert that I was playing with my friend Eric Nassau... In the dream, he was playing longer than he was supposed and finally they had to go and give him the hook... haha... While I was waiting backstage I wrote the song (in the dream.)  When I went on stage (in the dream still), I played the song...then I woke up and wrote it down and went back to sleep.   Later that day I found where I had written down the song from the dream and in the next couple days I finished the song about an artist from the Midwest that moved to NYC to pursue her dreams and found out it wasn't what she had imagined.  In the song, she reflects on her life one rainy night while looking out over the city.

I FINALLY got these journals all typed up and the photos uploaded and all that jazz. Please comment with all of the important things about the shows that I forgot to include and please send me photos! I know there were people taking photos at almost all of these shows. ;) I love you guys! Enjoy.

Thursday - June 21st, 2007
Magdalena's Tea House in Lansing, MI
With: Drake and The Break-ups
The day was hectic as I was trying to get everything done and packed before I left my apartment for a month... I rushed around the apartment and around town getting everything ready and in the process spilled coffee on my laptop which was less than cool... It hasn't blown up yet though so that was good. As I sit here and type it does have a nice vanilla coffee smell to it. ha. Eventually I packed it all in my car and took off towards Lansing. Luckily gas prices have gone down almost a dollar from a month or two ago when there were up near $4... they are still ridiculous but a little less so.

I rolled into Lansing about 7pm and brought some stuff in. When I got in there... there was a jazz band playing and a dinner being served. They assured me that they would be done in time so we could get set up for our show... In the meantime I chatted with Drake, The Break-ups, and a bunch of other folks and it was good to see all of them... Tammy told me about the peach cobbler that she made too. ;) The jazz band decided to "start" taking down their gear at 8pm. We were supposed to start the show... By about 8:20pm the stage was cleared and The Break-Ups were setting up. The show finally was underway about 8:30pm. We had to work through some sound issues through the set but it was a lot of fun to hear the break-ups for the first time and I have known Hattie and Tommy for a couple years and it was nice to see them again! Drake sounded good and most of the sound issues were taken care of with Eric's dad Bob running the sound board. (Side Note: I got Bob's Car Copy of the new John Price CD as a gift!)

I had a lot of fun playing my set and I played a bunch of songs by request like Fly Like an Angel, Postcard, Radio Star, After All, Wandering Blue Eyes... etc. I think the audience picked my whole set. It was so great to see many old friends and see some new ones too! Thanks to Eric & parents, Nathan & parents, Tammy, Lauren, Timmy, Tommy, Hattie, Sarah, Jenilyn, Jacki, Juliana, Melissa, Trae, Leah, Chris, Mary, John, Erin, Ashley, etc etc and all the rest of the folks that were there... Thanks for helping me kick off the tour.

Friday June 22nd, 2007
Lemon Jello's in Holland, MI
With: Head & Toe and Luke Winslow-King
I had a nice little drive to Lemon Jello's and ended up getting there early. I got to chat with all the cool kids that got there early. ;) The first two acts were pretty darn awesome! It was a treat to hear both Luke Winslow-King and Head & Toe! I'm glad that Dan is back running sound again... even though he tried to beat me up when I got there.. .haha. I had such a fun time and I hope all of you that were there did too... I really love hanging out and chatting with all of you (Don't change and let's always be friends... on myspace... and in real life. ha.) Oh I played a new song called 'Stranger than Strangers...' Thanks to Wade for being my Human Music Stand and T-shirt Model... I was informed that there is a facebook group called "Dan Vaillancourt is cool" ...I'm actually kind of a dork... but don't let the work get out. Shh. After the show, I hung out and talked about pressing issues like the plural form of Walrus.

Saturday, June 23rd 2007
Rohs Street Cafe in Cincinnati, OH
With: Ryan Adcock and Ashley Peacock
After a 4 hour drive... I made it to Rohs Street and got some tea and hung out a little bit and cooled off in the cafe... I met JP who has become my fav. sound man at the cafe and he is also a talented piano player and singer. It is worth the trip for me just to see Ryan and Ash perform... I love those guys. They are some of my favorite musicians of all time... not to mention darn nice folks. ;) The show was a lot of fun and we had a pretty decent number of folks that came in! I went and hung out with Ash after the show and went to sleep for a very very long time... ahhh... zzzzzz.

Sunday, June 24th 2007
Day Off in Florence, KY
A good day! Spent sleeping late. Eating well. Drinking Coffee. Getting some stuff printed at Staples... I got some work done and got to see a little bit of the forth Harry Potter movie... Later in the evening I finished making the rest of the posters for the tour and getting the envelopes all ready to send out... while watching two X-files episodes from the first season DVD with Nate. Good times! Oh! and I hung upside down from some crazy exercise thing... that was kinda of scary... and fun!

Monday, June 25th 2007
(early show) Caffe Apropos in Columbus, OH
(Late Show) Rhumba Cafe in Columbus, OH
With Eric Nassau
Blueberry pancakes for Breakfast! Mmmm... Living the life with the Peacock family. They have a beautiful little one year old baby... that was trying to type on my laptop and it was really cute until... she tried to delete 'My Documents' folder... haha... I saved it just in time. I hung out in Florence for the day and then made it up to Columbus. Apropos was a beautiful little place and the food was great too. Eric and I had a great show for a good crowd... esp. for the Monday after Comfest! Theresa and Nizzie are awesome by the way. After the Apropos show... we packed up and headed to songwriter night at Rhumba's thanks to an invite from the beautiful and talented Megan Palmer. Megan sounded great and Eric and got to perform again... and there was another guitar/fiddle combo that was great. To end the night Eric Megan and I jammed out a couple of Eric's Songs... Fun! We went back to Eric's house and ate some pasta and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 26th 2007
Sungeros in Louisville, KY
With Teneia Sanders & Chemic
I started the day out in Columbus and Eric and I walked to Victorian's Midnight Cafe and had some good breakfast and coffee on the back patio... After breakfast we walked over to the post office and I sent out the rest of the posters for the tour. We walked back and I packed up and headed out for the four-hour drive to Louisville. The drive was a pretty good one... and a hot one. I made it to the coffeehouse and broke all the rules and ordered an iced americano because I was craving iced coffee all day. Teneia and Scott ended up switching songs back and forth for the first set... Both of them sounded great with great voices, lyrics and a good sense of phrasing... I played a set after them and had fun playing for the few people who were there. After the show we headed over to a little restaurant and hookah lounge where I got to have the famous Louisville delicacy called the Kentucky Hot Brown! Mmm... I want another one... Chatted a bit more and then headed off to bed.

Wednesday, June 27th 2007
Day off in Nashville, TN
I slept in and headed back to Sungeros for some breakfast and to do a little wifi work. After a couple cups of coffee... I headed out into the heat of the day to drive up to Nashville and met up with my friend Liz. We went and ate at the famous Loveless Cafe! We a couple wonderful entries and a few sides... Catfish, pork chops, fried okra, sweet potatoes, hash brown casserole, green beans and some of the best biscuits and preserves I've ever had. ;) We walked around a little bit and downtown and then headed off to see the Wooten Brothers and friends perform at 3rd and Lindsley... Regi and Rudy were there as always and Joseph happened to be there and come on stage to do a few songs too! How fun. Rudy was in rare form and was pretty lively for the night... Good times with funk all night and some crazy dancing ladies too. hahah. After a bit of chatted I headed to bed.

Loveless Cafe Sign in Nashville, TN

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Thursday, June 28th 2007
Christopher Pizza Company
With: Beau Bristow & Rachel Carrozziere
I had a good time in Nashville during the day and eventually headed over to Beau's place and wandered in because he was still in the shower. Somehow we fit all of my gear into his car much like an extra stuffed sardine can... We drove down to music row and double parked on the side of the street and unloaded... I'm excited about the show AND the pizza. ;) (At this point, I'm realizing the running themes of this journal/tour are food, travel, friends, and music!) Like most places in Nashville's Music row, this place is about 11 feet wide and pretty long. The stage is smack dab in the middle of the venue which means that I was kind of playing to the wall straight ahead and then I could turn to the left or to the right to face people... It was interesting. Rachel played first and Beau was up there with her playing guitar... Fun times. I got to play next and after we got the sound right and Rachel's adoring fans stopped loudly mobbing her... it was more than I could have expected. I've always been kinda of scared to play in Nashville because it is just so over-saturated with music that I thought no one would care about my music... I was wrong. They seemed to really like it and they laughed so hard at the little musician jokes in 'Dylan Breath' and 'Play for You' that I thought I had died and gone to a heaven were people understand musicians! Haha. I need to come back. Beau played the last spot of the night and had a lot of great songs, some sympathy in unison, and fun loops... especially the last song he did was a lot of fun. Thanks to Beau, Rachel and Liz for bringing a bunch of people to the show!

I wanted to try all of the pizzas because they ALL sounded awesome and unique... I ended up with the Red Rooster. What would you have picked? Christopher Pizza Co. Menu

Friday, June 29th 2007
Backstage Cafe in Elizabethtown, KY
I woke up and had some fruit, showered and was on my way. I headed back up to Elizabethtown to play at the Backstage... I got there early and hung out with Carla, Bruce, Mom, and a few others that came in... and I got to see the photos of the Carla's broken foot with pins and stuff in it... ewww. The shows here are always so great... people come in, stay for the whole show and actually listen! Who knew? Afterwards I talked to a bunch of folks and even met someone that had been to Midland on vacation... Hmmm... interesting. He also told me where I should eat in Atlanta... He said to go to the Silver Skillet and get their lemon ice box pies... It is one of the best 5 pies in the US. I left with a Carolina BBQ Sandwich and Carla's famous bourbon cake in tow. I stayed at one of the cheapest sketchy-ist motels ever. Whoa.

Saturday, June 30th 2007
106 West in Winder, GA
W/ Ashes to Amber and Paul Hedges Trio
I left early and it was HOT! I need to get a car with some air-conditioning some day. My car overheated at one point... Nothing too extreme but the engine temperature light came on and I had to stop a while and let it cool down and then I was good to go. I was excited to go back to Winder because I hadn't been there in a while and I always have a great time. I pulled in and was never so glad to feel some air conditioning... It's always a treat to see The Tollersons!!! The show wasn't as busy because of the 4th of July weekend but I still had an awesome time performing and watching the other acts too! Paul's trio was fun and Ashes to Amber was some good rock and roll to jump around to. I had some ice cream during the show that was so good... mostly because it was so hot outside. After the show, The Tollersons and I went out to eat at the customary Waffle house...

Sunday, July 1st 2007
Day Off in Atlanta, Ga
Another hot day in ummm "Hotlanta." I met up with Erin today and I mostly just slept and took it easy because of the crazy storms and such... We lost power for a little while but it soon came back on.

Monday, July 2nd 2007
Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA
During the day Erin and I checked out the Silver Skillet in Altanta and it looks like nothing has changed in this place since the 50's... even the waitresses... In fact that may be true. The waitress made us write down our own orders and then made fun of us for not writing clearly enough... haha... and then she rewrote the whole order while making fun of us. I'm pretty sure this is just one of the routines of the place... I had to try a few of the specialties like the red eye gravy, biscuits and of course the Lemon Ice Box Pie which was rated one of the 5 best pies in America! During the day we checked out little Five Points and went to a bunch of the little shops and ate at one of the little cafes. Little Five Points is a very cool district of Atlanta that doesn't allow any cooperate businesses in it. Later we headed down to Eddie's Attic... I played the Open Mic shootout which is a big contest with 20 songwriters ever week... 20 people play two songs. Usually about half the people are touring artists so it really makes for a great night of music... The judges judge everyone and the top three come back up to play another song and then the winner is invited to the finals. For the first time ever.. I made it to the top three which was a great accomplishment for me. Miss Tess won the whole thing. Eddie remembered me from last year and wanted to know why I didn't play a show there on this tour... Seeing though Eddie runs what is arguably the premier singer-songwriter venue in the country... this meant a lot to me! Hopefully next year I can get a full show there with a little luck!

July 3rd & 4th 2007
Days Off in Athens, GA
A couple much needed days off were a lot of fun... I ate at this little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant in the back of a grocery store in Winder... The Tollersons showed me this place last year and I HAD to go back because it was so good. While I was in the area I had to go check out Mayfield's Dairy and get some peach ice cream... and visit Sarah Tollerson too. In Athens I had to go and visit Weaver D at this amazing soul food restaurant where everything is automatic for the people... and they have what might be the sweetest tea on earth... I made mine into an Arnold Palmer with the lemonade... Good stuff. Saw the fireworks and on the forth and had a great laid back time in general.

Thursday July 5th 2007
Java & Jams in Birmingham, AL
It was little drive to Alabama. I spent the day in the public library using the internet and then I stopped in the Roly Poly next to Java and Jams for a sandwich and then headed over and chatted for a long while while drinking an iced mocha. I got all my stuff hauled in and set up. The show was a lot of fun even though there wasn't a ton of people in there. The day after the holiday wasn't the best day to draw a big crowd but I had a great time nonetheless. This was my first time ever performing in Alabama! It was awesome to see Scott Weaver and his family... I stayed with them, caught up in each other's lives and reminisced about the days when he used to book the music for the ELCA youth gathering in MI. Ahhh... good times.

Friday July 6th 2007
The Bottling Company in Hattiesburg, MS
In the morning I headed back over to Java and Jams to get a bagel and coffee and chat a little more with Scott before I had to head to MS... I got into Hattiesburg early and checked the old Coca-cola bottling plant turned bar. It is an awesome place with a huge stage and you could fit a lot of people in there! I waited around for the sound guy for a long time and finally about the time I was supposed to start, he strolled in and eventually we got everything ready to go... I didn't really mind the delay because I really didn't want to play for three hours and it gave me time to eat dinner because I was really hungry. I played for the nearly the next two and a half hours for a generally disinterested audience... finally near the end of my set I was surprised to hear someone actually clap after a song got done... Spanky, Tea and friends came in and really enjoyed the music and it made my night. :) I was feeling a little ill at this point and was glad to get a hotel room and sleep.

Saturday, July 7th 2007
Artmosphere in Lafayette, LA
W/ Marty Christian & Joe Edwards
I felt a lot better when I woke up in the morning. I headed out and was pretty excited about the drive over to Lafayette because I was going to stop in New Orleans to eat. I had a great drive and this was my first time in Louisiana... I made it to New Orleans and it was really depressing to see the lack of progress on the rebuilding as a whole but also hopeful to see that the people themselves were taking charge to bring some normalcy back to the city and the businesses. I was on a mission to find a place called Neutral Grounds Coffeehouse because I'd heard a lot about it and I REALLY wanted a good cup of coffee... and about and hour of looking and getting lost in a neighborhood of diagonal streets and one-ways I found it... only to realize that it was only open for events and it was not a full-time coffeehouse. By the time I got and all, I didn't have too much time to check out some of the more famous districts. I found a neat looking little sandwich shop called Ted's Frostop and got a great catfish po' boy... Mmmm. After a couple more wild goose chases to find a coffeehouse on my drive to Lafayette... I was still coffee-less.

I made it to town in good time and had a chance to check in to the Blue Moon Saloon and Hostel. I met a drunk Mexican that bunked beneath me and each time I talked to him, he would tell me something funny... (Not on purpose funny... but drunk funny.) I had time for a little nap and a shower. I then walked over to Artmosphere and met Marty and Joe! I love those guys... Marty is so laid back and welcoming and Joe is so cool and witty and one of the originators of Zydeco drumming... Not to mention that the folks that worked there took great care of us. The night was an all around great experience for me good food, good people, and good music. I played a couple sets and so did Marty... His first set was a nice southern acoustic blues with Joe chiming in on percussion; the second they were joined by an amazing harmonica player playing the part of the accordion to make for a smoking last set of bluesy-zydeco-esque-dance-fest! Steve (aka ) took some awesome photos and documented the whole 4 and a half hours of music! Look at more of Steve's PHOTOS.
Artmosphere Sign in Layfayette, LA

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Sunday, July 8th 2007
Amy's Backyard BBQ in Austin, TX
I got up way to early after only a few hours of sleep to make the nine hour drive to Austin. The trip was long but pretty exciting since I'd never driven that route before. I stopped in to Cafe Caffeine which was only a half of a block from Amy's to get a huge espresso drink and then made it to Amy's house. I made it there just in time to have DT's famous barbecue. I was treated to all sorts of amazing dishes and my first Texas barbecue was a great one. This the first time I officially met Amy, although we chatted like we had known each other for years.

The concert was great... a whole backyard of Amy's friends all full from eating some great food and hanging out in the beautiful weather. I played for about 2 hours and I made a comment about the great weather and how I was glad that it wasn't raining like it had been for many days straight and at the moment that I mentioned rain... and I said, "I'm going to play a song called 'Maker of The Rain' and I hope that I don't jinx us..." At that moment... I summoned the thunder and out of a blue sky there was a huge thunder clap! I was ready to stop after that song because I didn't want all my gear to get rained on but I was assured by the crowd that it was a long ways off... and two songs later we were over taken by the storm and we scrambled to get all my gear and merch inside while the storm flooded the backyard with huge puddles. After the storm had past we reconvened and spent the rest of the night hanging in the rain-soaked July night. Besides the 9 hour drive... this day was awesome.

Monday, July 9th 2007
Day off in Austin, TX
The day started with all my favorite things... Can you say Tex-Mex breakfast with a latte?! Haha. Breakfast tasted awesome although it made it a little bit sick throughout the day. The day was spent with Amy taking me to some awesome used record shops and other such fun places. For dinner we went out to a great little restaurant with some friends from the night before and I still wasn't feeling very well so I didn't order anything too adventurous so I got an order of tortilla soup with rice. Let me just say that it was one of the best cups of soup I've ever had. Later in the night I figured I should go see some live music since I was in the live music capital of the world and all. We went to a club called Antone's to see onetime Muddy Waters piano player Pinetop Perkins for his 94th birthday party. There were all sorts of famous folks there to help him celebrate including Chris Layton (i.e. Stevie Ray Vaughn's old drummer) playing drums, and Gary Davis Jr. on guitar. Buddy Miles (Played drums with Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, Barry White, David Bowie, George Clinton, Santana, Bootsy Collins, etc) was there to say a few words about his 94 year old friend. Lots of other people were there too. It was awesome. We then went over to another pub to see a couple bands that were just starting out and eventually after an awesome day, it was time to go to sleep.

Tuesday, July 10th 2007
Absinthe Lounge and the Opening Bell in Dallas, TX
I've decided I love Austin! Great music, great people... and great food. I had the best salad I've ever had before it was time for me to head up to Wichita. It had fresh avocado and all sorts of other great things. I didn't want to leave but alas I said my goodbyes to Amy and headed up for the drive to Dallas. It was few hours and I made it to Dallas in time to stop and perform at the Opening Bell Coffeehouse Open Mic before my show. The Absinthe lounge was a pretty awesome little place. Some great folks came in and I got to talk with them for a little while... My friend Caitlin came out too which was a lot of fun. I played for a little over four hours... and went through a lot of songs that I don't normally play... By the end of the night I got paid via a % of the bar sales and I think the bartender must have been giving out free drinks all night because I could have been working at any other job and got paid more... Hmmm... Oh well. All in the life.

Wednesday, July 11th 2007
The Vagabond in Wichita, KS
The little 6-hour jaunt up to Wichita was an alright little drive. I made a little stop in Oklahoma City to eat some food and get a coffee at Sauced... where I'd be playing the next night. Mmmm... Pizza. I also checked out the "Blue Moon Bunkhouse" where I would be staying the following night. I got to the Vagabond early and got to hang out with Chandra, James and Nathan. There was a great poetry open mic prior to my concert and it was actually really good... It was surprising and refreshing to see such a talented community of poets that support this. After the poets were finished I finished setting up and played a fun set for a grateful audience full of people who really appreciated the words... I've decided that I need to play concerts for poets more often! After the show a few of us hung out and chatted at Chandra's house. The whole night was an excellent experience.

Thursday, July 12th 2007
Sauced in Oklahoma City, OK
I woke up and chilled with Chandra little in the morning and eventually made my way back down to OKC and headed straight to the Blue Moon Bunkhouse to get a quick nap before my show at Sauced. I was supposed to play a venue called the Blue Moon but it closed a couple weeks before my show... but the good thing is that they helped me set up another show that night for Sauced which is literally next door to where Blue Moon used to be and they still let me stay at their bunkhouse for a couple days. I got to Sauced early enough to eat and hang out a little bit. This is a cool little artsy district called The Paseo which is full of little shops, venues, and art studios and galleries. It was interesting and a little strange to play under a little cement overhang to a patio full of pizza eating, beer drinking, coffee and laptop working audience... all while partly blocked by a large cement pillar. The crowd was great and interestingly diverse also... there were professional BMX bike racers, a church group, some musicians and artists, some families, my friend Marlo and her husband... and many other people. I met Marlo in Pittsburgh on one of my first tours... and we've kept in touch. I love when things like that happen. After the show I sat and chatted with a bunch of folks including an Artist named Sam and a musician named Andy.... It was a beautiful night and the first night in a few weeks that it hadn't rained in OKC!

Friday, July 13th 2007
Day Off in Oklahoma City, OK
I slept in at the Blue Moon Bunkhouse... It was SO nice to catch up on sleep. I went over the the Red Cup Coffeehouse and had a great breakfast and used the internet... I walked to the post office and mailed some packages out and then I went back to the bunkhouse and took a nap... Now this is the life... THEN... I went back to the Red Cup and ate some nachos and caught some live music and talked met a few folks. After a while I decided to head back down to the Paseo district and call Andy from the night before and see if he wanted to hang out. I walked down there and explored a little bit and I checked out a drum circle that meets on Friday nights outside a little Western store. Good Times. Eventually I got a hold of Andy and his friend Adam to come and hang out and we hung out until late and chatted about good Mexican food and music. Eventually I walked back and slept. This was a great relaxing day... I didn't have drive all day! I walked everywhere which is a luxury after spending half of my time in the car lately.

Saturday, July 14th 2007
Safaris Art Galleries in Bartlesville, Oklahoma
w/ Generation Bridge
I had an awesome time hanging out in OKC... and I was sad to have to leave all my new friends but excited to go make more. The drive over was a nice little short one... and I checked into the Hotel that Safaris got for me! I took a little rest then took a shower and went and ate a chicken salad that turned out to be not at all as appetizingly as the menu made it sound... in fact it wasn't that great at all. Haha. I headed down the road to the gallery and look around for a while and soon got to chatting... Generation Bridge opened up the show and it was great to hear them and to talking to Jerry about all sorts of crazy guitar things. It was a great little show for a small but appreciative crowd. I got to talk with a group of kids after the show that told me all sorts of funny stories... including a funny one about a goat. It was nice to spend the night in a hotel.

Sunday, July 15th 2007
Hog's Haus Brewery in Fayetteville, Arkansas
I had an absolutely beautiful drive down to Arkansas. Who knew that Arkansas was so beautiful?! I got to town early and I didn't know anyone in town to stay with so I checked into a hotel and hung out before it was time to go to the show... Finally it was time to go to the show and I went and parked next to the patio of Common Ground, where I was suppose to be playing... The door for the patio was locked so I went around and looked found the door locked and upon further investigation I found that the inside of the played was all ripped out and under construction. I thought this was a little strange since I was supposed to play a show there... Luckily I noticed a newspaper article on the door and read that while Common Ground was under construction that Hog's Haus Brewery would be serving all the fav. Common Ground espresso drinks and menu items. I decided that maybe someone would know what I was supposed to do down there. I walked down there and asked the server at Hog's Haus if he had any idea or who I should talk to to figure out what I was supposed to do since the place I was scheduled was closed. Apparently everyone knew what was going on except me and it ended up that my show was moved there but ummm.... nobody told me that. Opps. The Brewery is in an awesome beautiful building and it was interesting to play for a bunch of people eating dinner. There were a few people that really liked the show and I chatted with them on my break... they really made my night worth it! All the people that worked there were awesome and really nice... they really took care of me and the food was amazing. I ate a salad that made up for the horrible one I had the night before. All in all... a fun night and luckily I read that newspaper article and had the idea to wander over to Hog's Haus and ask what I was suppose to do.

July 16-18th 2007
Days off in Kansas
I drove up to Kansas City and hung out with my friend Courtney for a couple days filled with good food, little road trips, lots of time spent at the Black Dog coffeehouse and a tour of Boulevard Brewery. One thing that I learned is that tour guide books always make things sound better than they really are... I had some ummm famous 'Hot Air" Fries and the worse salad I've ever had at Annie's Place is Topeka. It sounded good on the menu but apparently by " Fresh greens" they meant browning iceberg lettuce... by "smoked turkey" they meant perfect squares of mystery meat and by "bacon" they meant Bacon Bits...Did I mention that the salad was pre-made and refrigerated? Courtney felt bad about the horrible salad so to make up for it I went to The Mixx which is a hip little place where chefs custom create salads for you while you watch... oh and they have some great blue-cheese garlic bread!

Thursday, July 19th 2007
The Potter's Wheel Coffeehouse in Ottawa, Kansas 66067
During the day Courtney tried to kill me by taking me to a sushi place and feeding me real crab. I'm allergic to shrimp and I'm not sure about crab... but I didn't die so her plan to kill me didn't work out. I went down to Ottawa to find the fair was in town and just in case you didn't know... in a small town in the Midwest... the fair is a pretty big deal. I basically played for Courtney and Corey and a handful (small handful) of other people that came in through out the night. It was kind of fun to play some songs that I don't normally do but all in all was one of the lower points of this tour, mostly because the tour has had so many high points.

Friday, July 20th 2007
Courtney, Brett & Emily's Backyard Concert in Liberty, MO
Let me just say that noisy cicadas, tequila, burgers, nachos, police raids and a back yard... Make for a fun day! The fun started when I went to Brett and Emily's and got set up and they gave me the rock star treatment by providing me my own little stash of bottled water and a little stool to put it on and even a towel for when I would become nervous and sweaty when the police officers would later bum-rush the party. Soon Courtney's graduation party/ house concert was getting going... people were showing up bringing things like gluten-free cupcakes that didn't even taste horrible and burgers were being grilled to the soundtrack of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and a tree-full of cicadas... Eventually, we got the concert underway and apparently during this was also the time when the tequila was being to flow... maybe it was already flowing before that actually. The show was lots of fun and people were really enjoying it UNTIL... our liberties were infringed upon and the LPD (Liberty Police Department) dressed in full riot gear raided the party... kicking over tables and demanding the noisy acoustic music MUST be stopped! Actually they were pretty nice about it... apparently a neighbor had called and complained about the music and the police had to come and ask us to stop... they let me do another song... which turned into a little medley of songs just to stretch it out a little bit. I had a lot of fun chatting with folks after the show was done. I taxied Courtney home because of the tequila consumption and we made some late-night nachos.

Saturday, July 21 2007
Theo's Java Club in Rock Island, Illinois
Happy Harry Potter Day! Many of my favorite Quad City Folks were reading their newly acquired Harry Potter books... It was pretty sweet to have a table full of book readers. The night was a pretty good end to 30 days on the road and I got to see so many great folks from the area that I have come to know... Thanks for coming out for the last show of this leg of the tour. The folks that worked there are also always great to me and even made me a sandwich to go at the end of the night. Someone with the initials TK wrote me an little note and took the effort to put it into my tip jar that said "Get Some Originality..." I thought that that was kinda funny... I guess TK must know a bunch of funktified folkmen... .haha. Eh... whatever. After packing up, I decided to start the drive home and pulled off somewhere at a rest stop and got a few hours of sleep in my car and then 30 Days, 23 venues, 16 States later I made it the rest of the way home and brought in the mail and took a nap.


106>

OK... So it took me 4 months to finally get these last summer tour journals posted.



Saturday, July 28th 2007
Brother's Coffee and Tea in Gaylord, Michigan
With: Drake
This was a nice kick off date to the week of rock and roll camp!  Drake sounded great.  I got to see a bunch of the great folks from camp and spent a little time with them... The baristas were super cool and hung out and chatted afterwards!  After the show a few of us stopped at the Wild Turkey for an... ummm interesting time... and the scariest bathroom ever.  Haha.  We then headed to camp and started working on office stuff for camp.  Eventually Nathan the slave driver let me go to sleep... and I slept in a place with holes in the screens and a cicada right next to my ear over and over... (trying to attack me.)  Eventually I fell asleep.

July 29th to August 3rd
Rock & Roll Camp @ Michi-lu-ca in Fairview, Michigan
Basically... Camp was awesome.  This is my third year teaching at rock and roll camp with Nathan and Eric from Drake.  Emily and Spencer were there to help rock among others.   I'm starting to learn the ins and outs of camp and almost feel like a "real" counselor for the one week that I get to spend there.  

The quick synopsis:  24 High School Age Kids were put in to four bands. All of these songs were written and recorded in four days by four different bands from Michi-lu-ca's Rock and Roll Camp.

QUICK BREAKDOWN:
First Day: Band Auditions, Hardcore Ultimate Frisbee, and more.
Second Day: Four Bands of Six People were formed. Song writing began.
Third Day: More Rockage of Sockage.
Fourth Day: Last Practice Day Before Recording.
Fifth Day: Pastor Jahn and his Mobile Studio comes to Red Pine. Four Bands recorded live on the studio floor all in one room. Songs were Mixed soon after.
Sixth Day: Two Gigs. The Parlor Gig in Mio, MI and Bass Lake Music Fest in Fairview, MI.
Seventh Day: We Rested... ummm I mean the CD release Party!

Check out the Photos that I took from at Camp:

Check out their songs, more photos, and more on their Official Myspace Page: 

The Inside Jokes and memories:
-Craig.  Eats.  Hammers.  (and they sell them in the camp store.)  haha.
-Coffee.  Mmmm.  How I love thee.  My band must have taken after me when they would only go record first in the morning if we supplied them with coffee.  :)
-Fluffy Kittens.  (Burning and Dying.)
-Sup.  Like "Soup" without an "o."
-O.  (Snaps fingers.)
-Nathan and I blowing up Big Blue at the Parlor gig.
-Will.  (Fill in numerous things here_______________.)
-Mara! 
-4 Take Jake.
-Dat Band from up der... don't cha know.
-Dusty Cars.
-Basketball Marathon on Festivus. 
-Berry Potter Ice Cream at the Parlor in Mio!  (yum.)
-Tell me more things....

August 3, 4, 5, 6
Bass Lake Music Festival in Fairview, Michigan
With: Rachel Kurtz, Special Delivery, Drake, and all the Rock and Roll Camp bands!
The Rock and Roll Campers opened up Bass Lake and Rocked The Socks off of everyone.  I love Bass Lake.  I loved all of the musicians that played there...  I knew I loved Rachel and Drake but soon learned that I loved Special Delivery too.  Nice Guys that rock hard straight out of D-Town! 

I have so many awesome memories from Bass Lake this year...  I got a song written about me too.  :)  I learned how to catch a snap and relived last year eating Peanut Butter and Oreos.  I got to eat the famous trash bag taco salad too!  Not to mention lots of other good things from the wonderful folks that fed me all weekend.  The unplugged workshop and concert were tons of fun at Red Pine...  I stole some members of Drake and recruited Jack Johnson to play some sax with me!   Monday Morning was awesome when we all joined forces and become one big band.  Basically the whole long weekend was awesome.  If you were there you know... if you weren't... You should have been.  :)

Friday, August 10th 2007
8th Street Coffeehouse in Escanaba, Michigan
W/ Thomas Boles (<-The artist formally know as waypastfrown.)
The night was a little slow but it was fun.  It was fun to meet up with Mr. Thomas Boles from CA... Thomas Boles is sometimes called "waypastfrown..."  He was called waypastfrown during these shows we played together... but NOW he is just called Thomas Boles again... so I will now refer to him as Thomas...  It was fun to hang out and play for the folks that showed up and after the show we found a little late night diner and ordered some burgers and fries to go and made our way to a campground and ate our food and set up a tent... and accidentally got a bunch of bugs into Thomas's van... opps. 

Saturday, August 11th 2007
Falling Rock Cafe and Bookstore in Munising, Michigan
W/ Thomas Boles    
We ate a decent restaurant in the morning... It was one of those restaurants that decorates with memorabilia that looks like it is an ocean side restaurant but really... it didn't fool me... because I know we are near a great lake but nowhere near the ocean.   During the Day we hung out in the cafe and used the wifi and even randomly saw my friend Jesse's mom in the store... strange.  I had an AWESOME time at this show... I ended up going back a few times while I was in the area to eat food, ice cream, and to get coffee.  They even had a this crazy little wooden guitar stand thing.  Thanks to all of the folks that came out to the show... I got to meet a bunch of people that were from all over the US that were there working on Picture Rocks State Park and the National Lakeshore.

August 12-14th
Days off.
Middle of the Upper Peninsula, MI
Hung out with my family at a cabin in the UP in the middle of nowhere on a lake.  Ate food, slept, looked for a yeti, saw same waterfalls and big rocks, went to the beach and went out in a boat.  One day we met Rhyan in Munising and she brought us some of Oy's famous food from the Rice Paddy in Marquette .... Mmmm... Thai food out of this world.  We even saw our friends from the concert a couple days ago moving sand and such out at the state park!  Yeti!

Wednesday, August 15th 2007
Van Buren the Venue in Green Bay, Wisconsin
Fun times in Green Bay for Happy Hour Lattes at Kavarna... I had a good time at the Van Buren House Concerts... I had fun playing for all 5 people that showed up. Haha.  Ok Maybe 10 people.  It was an interesting house concert... Very laid back.  It was more like coming over to someone's house and playing for a few friends.  Besides feeling sick for most of the day... it was fun.  The best part was hanging out after the show with good folks... Jen, Thomas, Beth, Heidi, Indy and a bat... At some point at night while Heidi was telling a story... a bat swept down the staircase and ummm... tried to kill us.  Of course Thomas and I did what any man would do... hid under a mattress.  The bat tormented and taunted us a little bit, tried to bite us and turn us into vampires and then flew back up the stairs.  Then we regrouped and I somewhat supervised as Heidi and Thomas began the covert operation that eventually led to Thomas running down the stairs with a bat in a pillow case.   Good Times.

Thursday, August 16th 2007
Paradigm Coffeehouse in Sheboygan, Wisconsin
W/ Thomas Boles and Kristin Lagasse
I love the Paradigm... I had a great time as always.  Got to meet another Kristin from San Francisco...  It wouldn't be long before I felt I knew her well enough to start poking fun at her.  Haha.  She sounded good as did Thomas and I had a great time on stage... I even broke a string on stage for the last song... The first string that I have broken for something like 5 years...  I guess I deserved it for making fun of Drake at Bass Lake Fest for breaking strings all of the time.  The broken string actually led to a pretty cool ended and allowed me to do some crazy solo things on the guitar because I was working with 9 strings instead of 10...  Beth told me the concert was intense.... and I said, "yeah... like camping."   After the show Kate made us all some great food in the kitchen!  Yay.  I invited Kristin to come and join us on Saturday at the Premier because I'm nice like that and she didn't have a show that day.

Friday, August 17th 2007
New Moon Cafe in Oshkosh, Wisconsin
W/ The Jackson Street Polecats & Thomas Boles
What fun is the city of Oshkosh?!  Great fun when acts like The Jackson Street Polecats, Thomas Boles, the other girl that played that I can't remember her name and I are in town!  There were lots of folks around and the night was a busy night of music and fun...  The local girl that opened was great and even did a funny version of that 'Milkshake' Song.  I had fun and especially enjoyed seeing the Polecats for the first time... After the show Beth, Thomas and I drove an hour or so for a night filled with pizza, a hot tub and sleeping in a camper.  Good times in WI.

Saturday, August 18th 2007
Premier Cafe in Manitowoc, Wisconsin
W/ Thomas Boles and Kristin Lagasse
In the morning Heidi's dad "made" us breakfast and we hung out with her dad and sister for a while before we headed out.  The day was rainy and cold and it was sad not to be able to play outside on the patio at the Premier... I love playing out there in the summers.  So Kristin, Thomas and I crowded inside to play for the folks in the cafe and WOW I love this place.   By now Thomas and I have a few little jokes with Kristin so we can annoy and distract her while she is on stage.  Hehe.  Chelsey showed up after the show and we danced in the rain like dancing fools and Kym and Ryan took us out to Larry Legends for Wings and other such fried goodies.  Ryan and Kym are some of the nicest and most fun folks I know.  Kristin, Thomas and I all stayed in a camper over at Kym and Ryan's house...

Sunday, August 19th 2007
Driving home and getting hit by a Dodge Ram.
Everyone went out to breakfast and then we sadly had to part ways.  Thomas to CA... Kristin to Ohio... and I was going home after a long summer on the road.  I debated which way to go around the lake to get home to begin the 500 mile trek... I unwisely chose the southern loop through Chicago and Milwaukee...    I stopped to get gas and a Dodge Ram didn't quite stop and plowed into the back of my car on the exit ramp.  Luckily we weren't going very fast but it dented things a bit... We and chatted a bit about music as we drank coffee at the Pilot gas station cafe while we waited for a cop to show up... Finally a police officer showed and decided that he didn't want to write an accident report for the incident.  The guy who hit me helped me get the lock on my trunk to work a little better since it was rendered almost unusable from being hit directly on the lock...  I thought the dents were the worst of it but noticed a slight clunking sound coming from under my car when I pulled away.  On the way home I got stuck in traffic for a couple of hours in Chicago.  A couple hours from home I noticed the clunking was getting worse and there was smoke coming from my wheel well and smelled of burning...  Long story short, I made it home and a couple days later when I took it to the mechanic... I found out that the wheel cylinder had cracked or something (The impact of the crash finished it off) and all of the oil leaked out causing lots of problems which basically led to me replacing everything attached to the rear tires.  Interesting end to a summer of touring.