Keeping the blog updated seems like an uphill battle while on the road.  I am especially lazy because I doubt anyone even looks at myspace anymore.  I have been traveling now for 36 days and, while happy, am starting to feel some fatigue.

Here is an update on what I have been up to in the past two weeks or so:

Kempten, Germany

Thanks to Michael from Scrubs, I have had a couple more shows before taking off to Itally.  The first was in the little town of Kempten at the Künstlerhaus cafe.  The show was good, and there was one very drunk German man who's knowledge of American music seemed to be limited only to California Dreaming.


Michael and Mathias


California Dreaming!






Bregenz, Austria

Another show booked by Michael.  We went down early in the day for a ride on the Pfänderbahn, a suspended cable car that took us straight up into the mountains.  What an amazing ride!  Afterward, we went to Nullzwo, the bar that I was to perform in.


Pfänderbahn!  Lake Constance in the distance.


Nullzwo

The owner was really nice and made a cool flier showing all the major cities that I had been in before coming to their little town - my only date in Austria.  I think this was a point of pride for him, which was certainly flattering for me.

Traona, Italy.

Traona is a very small town in the North of Italy.  I have been told by Italians that it is in Ticino, the Italian part of Swizerland, but all the maps I look at seem to indicate that it is actually still part of Italy.  In any case, it is far north, and very rural.  When I got off the train from Milano, I was greeted by an empty, dark train station in the middle of nowhere.  I had no idea where to go, and finally when I found someone on the road and asked, they just pointed and said, "un chilometro".  That is how I found myself in a foreign land, walking in the dark with my bag and guitar along a long deserted country road in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by open air, mountains and the sweet, earthy stench of farmland for miles around.

I did find the place: Snack Bar Piccadilly - This was one of those shows where the owner might have been a little too excited to have an American perform there.  Either that or I, being American, am simply not used to having someone feed you too much food, give you too much wine, have you autograph the beer signs on the wall, pay you AND send you on your way with a bottle of Italian wine as a parting gift.  Either way, she was a sweet lady and, even though we couldn't understand 99% of what we said to each other, we both seemed to have a nice evening.



They even posted the envelope I send the posters in.  Very weird and sweet.




A newspaper clipping about the show that they had on the wall!



This is the other band that played that night: Pocket Chestnut.  They were giving out their CD free to anyone who brought them a Chestnut (they grow everywhere here).  Wotta bunch of guys!  I stayed at their place and drank all their wine.  I got to see them again too - I invited them to join me at a house show in Milano and they accepted.  Good times.


Talkin' Snack Bar Piccadilly Blues



Signin' Signage


Mantova, Italy

This was a great show.  It was in this little anarchist collective called Spazio Sociale La Boje.  I came on the train, straight from Traona - a trip that took the better part of the day - and was greeted at the station by Giulia, the lady that set up the show for me.  It was her birthday that day.  There was an art show.  Everyone was really nice.



Photo by Giulia Rizzini


Photo by Giulia Rizzini


Photo by Giulia Rizzini

At the end of the night they rolled out a cot for me and let me sleep in Spazio Sociale La Boje.  It was the best sleep I had gotten in a few days, I think.

Carugate, Italy

Another cool show in a sort of cultural arts center.  The sound guy, Francesco took some really nice pics.  Everybody there was really obsessed with that table-soccer game thing.  They guy I was supposed to stay with never showed up and Francesco let me stay with him, though I could tell he was a little bummed about it.  Thanks Francesco.

That's it fort now.  I played in Milano and my friend Monica's house, and I will put something up about that soon.  Tomorrow I fly to Rome and catch a bus to play in San Benedetto del Tronto.  The next day I bus back to Rome and catch a flight to Berlin.  Looking forward to seeing my friends there again.

After an exhausting and wonderful time in Berlin, I hitch hiked south to Leutkirch, a small rural town in Bavaria, where my good friend Mathias lives.  I have been fortunate enough to be invited to play with his band as the celebrate their 10th anniversary and release of their third album.




The night before the show we went to pick up the PA system.  The first thing I thought when we got out of the car was that it smelled like barn animals.  Sure enough, we were next to a cow pasture and the girls had just been led into the barn for dinner.  I tried to capture what at the time seemed to be an incongruous image of the music gear and the cows in the background, but couldn't get it all in the frame.





The Girls





Set up took a fair amount of time.  I was impressed and a little intimidated by the size of the hall.


They ran projections of videos and performances of the bands that were playing that night.  I was definitely the odd one out in an otherwise pretty hard rockin' bill, but in the end it worked out alright.






After my set, there were some Germans who were very intent on setting the record straight about the lederhosen.


Wolfi from Scrubs at the merch table.


Scrubs bringing the rock


End of the night, beschwipst and happy.  They played my song.

Two nights ago I played a nice little show at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn. I drove down from DC with my friend Katy from the band Trophy Wife.  We blasted Nirvana the whole way.  Pretty rad.

I am staying with my friend Jonathan near central park in his enormous, sprawling Manhattan flat in a huge building full of giant suites. There is a book about this place. When you walk up to it on the sidewalk, you are greeted by a doorman under huge hand painted archways. A 150 year old turtle lives here. 





Last night I played two house shows in Manhattan.  One at my old high school friend, Shaya's house, the other here at Jonathan's.  All was well.

















Shaya's House












Jonathan's house

Very late at night, Jonathan and I started playing music together.  We were both tired, and I was particularly exhausted ffrom playing two sets, but we did a little version of Blood Tree where Jonathan played some interesting dissonant piano runs.  Pretty cool.

Above is a poster for the tour I am about to embark on, done by ex-Cost band member and good froiend, Shaun Osburn.  I started in Oakland, CA, flew out to DC where I am doing some recording and playing.  Then it is off to New York, Germany and Italy for some more shows.  I will try my best to keep this blog going so that people can kind of see what is going on.  This is my first European excursion tour-wise, so it's a pretty big experiment.  I booked everything myself, so I am a little nervous about what will happen out there.  Please feel free to leave comments, words of wisdom, pointers for surviving a financially disastrous tour in foreign lands and what ever else comes to mind.

The last few days were spent doing a bit of recording with Ivan Basauri.



Marcos Cisneros



Marcos in the background, me and Carrie Ferguson playing the Rhodes






Marcos-eye view.


Ivan-eye view.


What do you mean, "tune"?


Joanna Dabrowska on vibes









Guits

Well, the tour went pretty well, all things considered.  There were some great shows, and a couple of duds.  Although I would generally consider it a success, it was not without pitfalls.  I was deathly ill for most of it, and consequentially look like I was hit by a truck most of the time.  I didn't take a lot of pictures, but there is a bunch of lo-fi digital footage that I hope to eventually put together into a sort of Spinal Tap-esque documentary.

But for now, I have compiled twits I did, in chronological order.  Although Twitter, along with myspace, is easily one of the most evil entities on the internet, it is easier and takes much less brain power than actually writing a blog, and you can do it from your cell phone!

So hopefully this, along with a few pictures will create a snapshot of what the tour was like for me and Road Dog Willy Morton.

1. Kind words: http://bit.ly/DRMqV 10:55 PM Jun 7th from web
   from Holiday*Manitee
   
2. CP love: http://bit.ly/LsrOB 11:50 AM Jun 8th from web
   From Washington City Paper
   
   
   
   
3. Bragg sounds great. Looking forward to playin10:04 PM Jun 8th from txt
   
   Meredith Bragg photo by Erik Gamlem
   
   
   McArdle band photo by Erik Gamlem
   
   
4. Thanks to all who came out to the she last night. Being there meant a lot to me. Gonna miss all of you. xoxo8:09 PM Jun 9th from web
5. Getting ready for Northern Charms / Western Tour...9:11 PM Jun 12th from web
   
   
   The Van
   
   
6. Found out we're w Extra Action Marching Band in Seattle after they open for D. Byrne. This message brought to you by the letters O, M and G2:25 PM Jun 18th from web
   
7. Fare thee well, DC. Goodbye friends, Dupont yups, cap hill savages, NW, NE, SE, SW and all. I will return to sing another day.8:56 AM Jun 19th from web
   
8. Comin up on cleveland. Hot! Van is doing great!4:46 PM Jun 19th from txt
   
9. Scarcity of tanks and mcardle tonight. Awesome.7:24 PM Jun 19th from txt
10. Set went well. Instant coffee kicking out the jams11:10 PM Jun 19th from txt
    
    
    Tuning?  Nah.
    
    
    Sick as a dog in Cleveland, but still enjoying Scarcity of Tanks
    
    
11. A fine evening. Thanks to Wasco, Scott, bands and Bela Dubby. So tired and sore throat. tomorrow is another adventure. XO to Cleveland.2:01 AM Jun 20th from web
12. on the road again- Leavin cleveland for chicago12:35 PM Jun 20th from txt
13. Chicago in the rear view. Visiting karl in peoria!9:11 PM Jun 20th from txt
14. A good friend to the road weary, Karl sated us with scotch and stinky cheese. A good night's sleep and on the road again! Next: Omaha!10:15 AM Jun 21st from web
15. Title for the autobiography i will never write: no humor before coffee1:14 PM Jun 21st from txt
16. Endless freeway in iowa. Corn fields, big sky. Nebraska soon7:24 PM Jun 21st from txt
    
    
    gas station oddity
    
    
17. Stuffed with pizza, setting up to play at groovy PS Collective. However: not convinced people actually live in Omaha. Very 28 Days L8r city.9:36 PM Jun 21st from web
    
    
    
    After the show in Omaha
    
    
    
18. Weary night drive toward toward colorado. Lightning on horizon1:51 AM Jun 22nd from txt
    
    
    The view from our nasty little hotel room: it was semi-underground, so there was like this...storm-drain-with-a-mural-thing outside the window....
    
    
19. Colorado! Humidity behind us!8:06 PM Jun 22nd from txt
20. Amazing wonderful show w colorado groovies. So tired, but life affirmed3:39 AM Jun 23rd from txt
21. The gauntlet: boulder to boisi11:16 AM Jun 23rd from txt
    
    
    
    
    
22. Great boise show. Camped at fiddler fest in weiser. Life affirmed11:11 AM Jun 24th from txt
23. Slept in the back of a pickup last night under stars. Almost to seattle!5:25 PM Jun 24th from txt
    
    
    Willard in the mist
    
    
24. On the washington state map: whiskey dick mountain. No shit.6:19 PM Jun 24th from txt
    
25. Lush green forests, snow capped mountains- the landscape i have been missing.6:30 PM Jun 24th from txt
26. Grunge is alive and well in seattle11:39 PM Jun 24th from txt
27. The comet: rawk club. Mcardle: not rawk singer.1:39 AM Jun 25th from txt
28. RIP Jacko, Farrah. Hard to imagine a world without yeh.6:46 PM Jun 25th from web
29. Rad tacoma show! Country headliner w built to spill guit player. They are real good.2:06 AM Jun 26th from txt 
    
    
    Where is this?
    
    
30. I am in portland!5:56 PM Jun 26th from txt
31. Almost to California! Amazing that rest stops have wifi now....6:52 PM Jun 28th from web
    
32. Eating hippie health food in weed, ca!9:03 PM Jun 28th from txt
33. Long drive from PDX punctuated by coolant explosion in Vallejo (20 miles from home). Said & done, 16 hour ordeal. Thank god for AAA. Home!5:46 AM Jun 29th from web
    
    
    total bummer
    
    
34. Tonight! 7pm Early Acoustic Show At Annie's in SF 917 Folsom - Hanalei, Sean McArdle, Bryan Mason. Free!! http://www.anniessocialclub...5:28 PM Jun 29th from web
35. Ok people - Doors are at 7, show at 8 tonight. 917 Folsom - Annie's Social Club in SF.6:51 PM Jun 29th from web

The record release show went well, despite the fact that it landed on the same night as what appeared to be the snowstorm of the century.  Still, turnout was decent and everything went well.  Props to Joana Debrowska, who learned her vibe parts with very little notice and really dropped some science on the Black Cat.


City Paper did a little pick for the show here:  http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2009/02/27/sean-mcardle-record-release-black-cat/

Thanks to everyone that came out.  We all worked hard on the record, and I personally  feel good about it.  I am looking forward to doing more with all the people who played on Northern Charms in the future.

There are a couple of things on the airwaves at the moment. The McArdleBand has put out a single on 7" vinyl for our song, Still Working. The song features performances by resident Dischord drummer Ben Azzara, dream pop chanteuse Lida Husik, luthier Will Morton and multi-instrumentalist Duncan Smith.

The B-Side is a version of Out of Joint, written by Bill Keith. Recorded at Silver Sonya by TJ Lipple and Chad Clark. To Order, write to mcardlemusic (at) gmail (dot) com $5.00 PPD.



Also of significance: we have a song on a compilation put out by our friends at Exotic Fever Records. The compilation is to benefit Compassion over Killing, a nonprofit animal advocacy organization that works to end animal abuse. Order HERE.
Review 1
Review 2










And here is a sort of embarrassing radio spot I did a while back. Please don’t listen to it.

Thanks to Xandi!

The recording is coming along and sounding great. We finished the drum tracks in my livingroom this weekend, which means that the whole record is about 1/10 finished! The good news is that it will be much easier to work on from here on out.

Our fearless leader and recording engineer, Ivan Basauri took some photos:






S. McArdle and Ben Azzara






Rock, rock, rock, rock with the rock...






Chris Grier: Feelin' it.