Hey y'all,

I hope this finds you well and you are enjoying life.

After six wonderful years of living in the Berkshires (and one in Albany, NY) I am moving to New York City. It has always been my dream to live there. I will continue to play music with my band mates, all of whom have become NYC residents in the past several months. In preparation for city living, I am downsizing, selling or giving away much of what I own. For the first time since probably age 16 I will go car-less… I am selling my car to my parents in Seattle, WA and driving it to them at the end of the month with my new band: xBians.

When I heard that Johnny Kearns of local electronica outfit Electro Bandit was moving to California to pursue his hip-hop dream I offered him a ride. We thought to keep ourselves entertained on the road we ought to collaborate musically, put some songs together and book some gigs, he with his Akai MPC (sequencer/sampler/drum machine) and I with a Casiotone (tiny synth with cool beats). I recruited my fellow Kripalu yogini and close friend Marie-Helene Larose-Truchon to accompany us on the trip and to lend her sweet voice and ukelele to the mix. We all decided that it would be cool to document our trip with daily updates on a blog featuring pictures and videos of our performances/shenanigans. When my friend, producer Robby Baier (Melodrome), caught wind of the idea he enthusiastically offered to produce a record for us to sell while on the road.

The name of our thrown-together band is inspired by the car that made this all possible: my 2006 Scion xB. With the name tie-in and Johnny's hip-hop influence, we are also intending to attract the attention of the car company itself. Recently, Fast Company magazine featured an article about how Scion is signing non-exclusive deals with up-and-coming hip-hop artists offering vinyl manufacturing, promotion and distribution. Why not? We figure at best we become huge mega commercial pop sensations overnight. At worst, it's a damn fun way to deliver a car across the country.

We have everything in place for a successful tour minus two small details:

BEDS & GIGS

Can you help?

We plan to be in these cities on the following dates:

9/29 Cleveland
9/30 Chicago
10/1 Omaha
10/2 Denver
10/3 Salt Lake City
10/4 Reno
10/5 Grass Valley/Santa Rosa, CA
10/6 San Francisco

We appreciate any help you can give that will support us on this trip!

Thank you,

Jeb

BLOG: www.xbians.blogspot.com
MYSPACE: www.myspace.com/xbians


p.s. - our transcontinental adventure begins on Sunday September 28 with a tour send-off celebration at the Dream Away Lodge in Becket, MA at 8pm. CDs will be available for sale.