(Jane's Spring Break T-shirt: "you can always re-take an exam, you can never retake a party.")
Jane Potter and I had a blast on our recent road trip! Here's the blow-by-blow account.
Saturday, March 13
7:00 AM departed Logan airport bound for Reno, NV through Chicago.......
1:00 PM - arrived Reno. Got upgrade on rental car to accomodate keyboard: Headed West (over the gorgeous Donner Pass) into California. Practicing our harmonies all the way!
4:00 PM Stopped in Sacramento to pick up rental keyboard at Gordon's (our new best friends!). Even with the upgrade, the keyboard - in its box - did not fit in the car! But they were nice enough to wrap it in a moving pad and let us take it anyway. Woo-hoo! On schedule to make it to Berkley for 8:00 PM show.
7:00 PM - arrive in Berkeley, just enough time for a quick shower at our hotel before our first gig - The Rose Street House of Music....
8:00 PM - arrive Rose Street. This turns out to literally be a house of music, with emphasis on the "House." Rose Street - spearheaded by a dynamo named Irina Rivkin - has a stated mission to "bring out women's voices through poetic music of substance and depth." This is pure Berkeley. Organic soup cooking in the kitchen. Fragrance-free, and shoe-free, too. We are made to feel very at home. My lovely former student, Flavia, arrives with her husband.
8:30 PM...we go on first. All originals. Fifteen hours of travel, three time zones...one rehearsal....the cracks are showing a little bit. But what a warm audience this is! And they are serious about this substance and depth thing - they are seriously listening to every word!.
Irina performs a "live looping" original - "Rise Up" which is all about a democracy initiative in California. "Rise up" is very musical and also speaks to a really important cause. She was followed by singer-songwriter Robyn Landis, an engaging singer-songwriter from the Northwest and Artemesia Black, an alternative/acoustic/goth duo with haunting melodies and harmonies.
All in all it's a satisfying musical "soup" and a great introduction to California.
They offer us a couch for the night but we smile mysteriously because we have first class accomodations, thanks to Priceline!
Sunday, March 14
8:30 AM Wake up in the historic Claremont Hotel and meet my former awesome coach Debra Russell for breakfast. Beautiful sunny day - first one in a couple of weeks apparently! Our eyes are feasting on the view of the bay, the palms and all the flowers.
1:00 PM Workshop at Freight and Salvage. A small but really productive workshop in Somatic Voicework. Hope to go back sometime!
Monday, March 15
I get one of my hare-brained ideas to go take a look at the ocean before heading off back east for our next leg of the tour. I've been up to Point Reyes several times before but of course can't remember how to get there so we spend several extra hours on freeways and meandering through country roads populated with cattle...But we make it to the Point Reyes National Seashore and it's worth it! Have a beautiful walk on the beach before heading back (through the traffic of Sacramento) to Nevada City, home of my middle Sib!(We get there and creep into bed around 10:30 PM).
Tuesday, March 15
Wake up in beautiful Nevada City. The sun is shining, flowers are blooming, and the town has a very laid-back, California vibe. Jane and I prepare for our big gig at The Chief Crazy Horse!1:00 PM We check out the venue. Speak to one of the owners. She talks about how she really wants to support live music, and showcase diverse groups who appeal to different ages, etc. Very cool Meet "Festival John" who manages the Chief Crazy Horse website, and is planning a music festival in NC in the fall. Woo-hoo! Big time!!
6:00 - 9:00 PM - two long sets. We are in much better shape. There is a bit of a walk-in crowd from the publicity in the local paper. It's "Taco Tuesday" and we get to sample the wares - yum!
9:00 PM - Looking for more excitement in Nevada City, we find it at the National Hotel, where the Boston Beantown Babes sit in with the resident pianist....he's playing all the standards - about a fifth higher than we're used to singing them! Great head voice workout! Check out the video but please don't send it to any booking agents or potential students!!
10:00 PM - we go back to Crazy Horse to hear the next band, but find out that the happening place is the kaoroke across the street! All of our new friends are there...Festival John and the sound guy, George...plus there's definitely a little of a wild west thing happening in this town. A fist fight breaks out.
12:30 AM - we tiptoe into bed, trying not to wake the family (again).
Wednesday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day)
We spend the day doing Nevada City stuff - Yoga at the Wild Mountain Yoga Center, organic lunch, etc. Dinner with the family.
Thursday, March 18
3:00 PM Went for a walk along the Yuba River.
8:00 - 11:00 PM
Great gig at the Copper Top in Grass Valley. This is a classy place....Nice wines, artwork on the walls. Filled in the origs with some jazz standards. Had a nice walk-in crowd and people seemed to enjoy it! We actually played till almost midnight cause we were getting really silly with a couple from Truckee...don't know if they were laughing with us or at us but had a great time! Creeped in at my bro's around midnight. Apologies to my bro and sis-in-law for disrupting your sleep all week. We thoughtyou might miss having teenagers around!
Friday, March 19
enroute to Carson City
Fatigue starting to set in. Fighting off a cold or possible allergies. Uh-oh.
Drive over the mountains on Hwy 50 this time, going through the south part of Lake Tahoe. Spectacular drive. We get to Carson City at 5:00 PM and set up for our CD signing at Borders Books. Where we are completely ignored. Except for one employee who loves our rendition of "Hallelujah." So I give him the CD:-)
5:00 PM Check in at the Gold Dust West, our home in Carson City. Big slot machine action in the casino, which we avoid because of the cigarette smoke. If Reno is a smaller version of Vegas than Carson City is a smaller version of Reno. There is a view out my window of cattle grazing with a backdrop of the Sierras, and a really cool "old" downtown strip that looks like Vegas must have looked like in the 60's. Went to Adele's, "the best place in town" (according to our hotel) for dinner. We needed it - we were starving! Adele's is set up like an old-west brothel with velvet curtains, lots of lace and old photographs. Really cool and great food. Yum!!!
Saturday, March 20
10:00 AM Woke up late, definitely got a cold and tonight is our big gig, so I'm taking my time, doing steam treatments etc....think I'll just check on the Brewery Arts Center Website...
10:45 AM Oh My God! I thought the workshop was at 1:00 PM! This says 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM! Frantically try to call the BAC while I throw on some clothes...
11:05 AM arrive at the Brewery Arts Center where there are about a dozen kids waiting for me....thank god all my years of teaching for Lesley Univ and many other situations have taught me how to hit the ground running in a workshop no matter how I feel... these kids are awesome. We do some group warm-up stuff and then I have each kid perform and get coaching/feedback for about 15 minutes. I'm amazed at the concentration they exhibit, these 8-15 year old kids totally focused on each other and making the most salient comments! (BTW - check my original contract and the workshop time is stated as 1:00 PM....don't know when it changed but just a reminder to always check in a day ahead of time!)
3:00 PM I finally get some coffee and something to eat
7:30 PM Big show at Brewery Arts Center. This is a beautiful venue with a stage, grand piano and great sound system, and John Procaccini, the director of the BAC runs it like a well-oiled clock. All the kids from the workshop are in the front row and are a little cheering section for us! (Wish I could just take them home with me!). Jane and I are at our best, I'm just thinking this really validates everything I've been learning and teaching with Somatic Voicework(tm) - The Lovetri Method. If I can sing despite exhaustion, an incipient cold, the incredible dry air of Nevada ---well that just proves this technique works!
10:00 Back at Adele's - John takes us out for hors d'oeuvres and drinks, including my family and Jane's friends and some BAC staff. He's friends with the chef so we get a fantastic sampling of sashimi, salads, pizza. John tells us about his facinating journey to this point in his career. He's actually originally from the east coast where his family has a deli in Providence. He started his career in entertainment as a production assistant for some big acts, (starting with Sammy Hagar and ending with Frank Sinatra) and somehow landed in Carson City. He's done a fabulous job making the Arts Center a viable and contributing member of the arts community in Carson City.
Sunday, March 21
12:00 AM Finally get to bed
4:00 AM Get up and drive to Reno
6:00 AM Board our United flight for SF and home.
10:00 PM ZZZZZZZ
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