The first time in months that I manage to find time to post something, and I’m at SxSW. Ironic!

I just finished the Rogue Wave / Nada Surf tour, which was amazing. Nada Surf are such a great band, and you couldn’t hope to meet three nicer human beings. The shows were mostly sold out, and mostly in good venues, and the whole experience was really wonderful.

Here’s where we were:

FEBRUARY
Tue 7 New York City, NY The Mercury Lounge
Wed 8 Baltimore, MD 8 x 10 Club
Thur 9 Charlottesville, Virgina Starr Hill Music Hall
Fri 10 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
Sat 11 Atlanta, GA The Loft
Sun 12 Nasville, TN Exit / In
Mon 13 Maryland Heights, MO Voodoo Lounge @ Harrah’s Casino
Tue 14 Columbia, MO The Blue Note
Wed 15 Lawrence, KS Granada Theatre
Thur 16 Travel / Off –
Fri 17 Dallas, TX Gypsy Ballroom
Sat 18 Austin, TX Emo’s Alternative Lounging
Sun 19 Travel / Off –
Mon 20 Tempe, AZ Clubhouse Music Venue
Tue 21 San Diego, CA House of Blues
Wed 22 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theatre
Thur 23 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
Fri 24 Portland, OR Aladdin Theatre
Sat 25 Vancouver, BC Richards on Richards
Sun 26 Seattle, WA The Showbox
Mon 27 Travel / Off –
Tue 28 Travel / Off –
MARCH
Wed 1 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
Thur 2 Omaha, NE Sokol Underground
Fri 3 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Café
Sat 4 Madison, WI The Annex
Sun 5 Chicago, IL The Metro
Mon 6 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
Tue 7 Travel / Off –
Wed 8 New York City, NY Webster Hall
Thur 9 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
Fri 10 Montreal, QC Cabaret Music Hall
Sat 11 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace

Then Rogue Wave split off and picked up a couple random shows through the Midwest en route to Austin. We got into Austin at 5:30 this morning, direct from last night’s gig, slept in the van for a couple of hours, and loaded into the Parish at 8:30. In the morning! I was done soundcheck and having breakfast by 10:30. Ridiculous. I’m SO tired.

I’m doing two or three bands over the next few days at SxSW (Rogue Wave, Film School, and maybe Two Gallants) – I think I’m mixing something like 8 sets over three days. Then on Sunday, I fly to New York to do a quick 8-day tour with Annie (yay!). This will be great fun. Here’s that itinerary:

MARCH
Mon 20 New York City, NY The Mercury Lounge
Tue 21 Toronto, ON Mod Club
Wed 22 Montreal, QC Club Lambi
Thu 23 Boston, MA Jane / Fenway Sessions
Fri 24 New York City, NY DJ set
Sat 25 Brooklyn, NY Northsix
Sun 26 Washington, DC Black Cat

Then I get to go home for a few days! I’m mixing a few sets at Noise Pop:

MARCH
Tue 28 Every Move A Picture Bottom of the Hill
Thu 30 Rogue Wave Bimbo’s
Fri 31 Two Gallants Bimbo’s

Then I head back out April 2 for another six weeks with Matt Nathanson. This should be great fun as well! Here’s the itinerary for the first leg:

04.03.06
Jammin Java
Vienna, VA

04.04.06
World Cafe Live
Philadelphia, PA

04.06.06
Paradise Rock Club
Boston, MA

04.09.06
Joe’s Pub
New York, NY

04.10.06
Acoustic Cafe
Bridgeport, CT

I get two days off to hang out in Vermont with my sister, and then I’m back out for another three or four weeks with Matt again. I’ll post more details as I get them! — .j.

Well, that’s it! We did the last show, I crashed on a friend’s couch for three hours and flew out of Burbank on a 7 AM flight, and I’m safe and sound with my family in Vermont. It’s taking some adjustment for me to get used to having nothing to do for a minute. I’ve become so used to constant work and stimulus that for the first 48 hours I was here I felt anxious and panicky, as though there were something that needed to be done that I wasn’t doing. I can’t change gears that quickly.

But I’m starting to settle into the groove. I’ve wrapped most of my presents, and I’ve been reading a bunch, and watching a little TV, and I’m already working on the Rogue Wave Europe tour that starts next month. I hit a cool meeting tonight, which was fantastic – it feels great to be back in that loop again.

Darlene Love was just on Letterman, doing her yearly reprise of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”. That song always gives me chills, and chokes me up, and puts a smile on my face, all at the same time. Amazing :-)

We’re in LA, pre-positioned for the last day of the tour. Tomorrow will be a huge pain in the ass, basically – we have two acoustic recordings to do and then an early load-in. The show will be fun, as always, but it’s LA, so whatever. I’m just excited to go to Vermont :-)

Last night was amazing – we sold out GAMH, the boys played beautifully, and the crowd was attentive and enthusiastic. And then I slept in my own bed, and woke up in my own house! As it happens, everything in SF was just as I left it, and I don’t think I missed much, which answers a couple of outstanding questions I had. I got to hang out with RICK! and Aimee, which pretty much made my week. I had breakfast at The Grind, coffee with Josh Bluh, and then I got back in the van.

So, it’s almost the end of the tour. It’s been amazing – I love these guys, and I love what they’re doing. I have no idea what my next year of work will look like, or even the next month, but I’m sure it will be amazing as well. The trick will be finding a good balance between away and home, work and friends. I would imagine this isn’t an uncommon issue, and I would imagine I’ll dope it out.

Okay, so my plan of posting every day obviously hasn’t worked out as well as I had hoped. The demands this tour has placed on my time have been ridiculous! Given the choice between blogging and getting an extra 15 minutes of sleep, I have been choosing the sleep – the difference between 5 hours of sleep and 5.25 hours is substantial enough to justify the choice.

We’re doing well. A bit of tour fatigue and homesickness have started to set in, but they’re manageable, and the shows get us through. The audiences have been great – very warm. The weather kicked our ass for a couple of weeks, but now we’re in the Southwest and it’s been hoodie weather for the last few days, so that’s much better. It’s easy to forget how spoiled we are living by the Bay.

We’re ramping up to a strong finish – both the SF and LA shows are looking like they’ll be sellouts, which would be a great way to finish things up.

I’ll write as I’m able – in the meantime, if you need anything immediately, call me :-)

Jesus, it’s cold here!

We stopped at 2024 Records on the way into town to pick up our new merch, which is SO cute. David from 2024 is super-nice – thanks, David!

The boys did an in-studio at MPR early, then we headed over to the venue. We were on time for soundcheck, but the venue, unbeknownst to us, was in the middle of an early show. The long and the short of it was that we waited around for hours, then had to play without a soundcheck. Add this to the fact that we had apparently been tacked onto a completely incompatible bill, albeit as the “headliner,” and the show more or less sucked. Whatever :-)