Adventure #34: 2011 Tour (Cleveland, Cleveland and Pittsburgh)

I've always had a tough time landing shows in Cleveland. I've wanted to play there on both of my last tours, but it never ended up working out. I had gotten in touch with Joshua from 19 Action News who's a friend of Nate Allen's (from Destroy Nate Allen, of course) to see about playing a house show in Cleveland. He said he'd set something up, but two weeks out was still having trouble and told me it probably wouldn't happen. I called up the Root Cafe and asked to play a set there. The next day Joshua came through. So now I had two shows in Cleveland! W00t, as it were. I set out from Indy early pretty much running on fumes (and still despondent from my epic bowling fail). About midway through Ohio, the great weather I've been having this whole tour decided it was nostalgic for winter and I found myself in a hailstorm. I had intentions of getting in early and exploring Cleveland a bit, but obviously that wasn't happening now. So I headed to the Root Cafe and got set up. By sheer coincidence, the illustrious oboist, Buick enthusiast, nearly roomate, and fellow nomad Katie Ike was in Cleveland that day. She showed up with her friend Kathryn and saved what had thus far been a kind of frustrating show (although the reaction from basically the whole place when I played As The World Falls Down from Labrynth made the whole show worthwhile).

Dear patrons of an establishment where live music is happening,

I understand that not everyone is in a venue for the music. It could be the food, the drink, or you were just looking for a place to sit and work. That's cool. But please don't ever sit 2 feet away from a performer and spend their entire show with headphones on listening to other music. Sit in the back if you don't want to listen. Otherwise, you're just a douchebag.

Thanks,

Nathan

The people who worked at the Root Cafe are amazing though. Haley especially was awesome and told me she often does house shows and that I should get in touch next time I'm coming through. This is Pen Pen pittying the fool who listens to music on giant noise cancelling headphones while I'm playing 2 feet away.

Ike, Katherine, and I jetted off to the next show as soon as I was done. The snow and sleet and mush had only gotten worse since I'd started and the 4 mile drive on local streets was pretty harrowing. Luckily the Albatross made it to Agape House in once piece. Zach (the guy who lives there) was playing when I walked in. He played some badass anti-folk and got his assembled tribe of friends clapping and shouting along. Joshua and Jacob also tore it up doing a rare acoustic set of their usually pretty heavily electronic music. They passed out tambourines and suitcases to everyone there and we made some great noise. Playing coffeeshops and bars is nice because you get food and usually there's a decent crowd there, but this is more my scene. There really is nothing like a good house show. Even when sparsely attended, a good house show is pretty life affirming. After the show proper ended we all hung around and jammed on Springsteen and Pedro the Lion songs for a while which was awesome. This is Pen Pen killing fascists.

Kathryn and I dropped Ike off at the bus back to Brooklyn and headed back to her place where she had a spare room! On the way I ran through a puddle and my check engine light came on. Which was exactly what I needed. Sidebar: They're playing TLC in the coffeeshop where I'm writing right now and I couldn't be happier about that. In the morning I headed to Autozone (who will read the on board computer for free!) who told me it was either a problem with my catalytic converter or just a momentary short in something from driving through the puddle. Hoping for the later, I headed off to Pittsburgh with a brief stop in Berea to meet my friend Chelsea for lunch.

Around the Ohio / Penn border the snow started to hit hard. It took me 4 hours to get to Cannon Coffee. My check engine light was still on. Basically it was the best drive ever. I made it to Cannon Coffee which was totally deserted. A few friends I had met last time trickled in, despite the ongoing blizzard. I played a little, and we had a few great singalongs, but mostly we all just drank beer and hung out trying to avoid going outside. I had hoped to see my friend Eliza while I was in town, but I couldn't even move my car down the street, so I gave up that dream and headed back to Nate, the owner's, place which was only a few blocks away. This is Pen Pen, a flightless bird of the Antarctic, really not into the snow at this moment in time.

This is a song I wrote this one time. You should download it and share it with your friends.

Just Can't Get Enough (Depeche Mode Cover) by nathanleigh

Adventure #33: 2011 Tour (Indianapolis, IN)

There's something about Indianapolis that reminds me of Boston. I'm not sure what it is, but every time I come through I feel oddly at home. It was a perfect early spring day when I pulled into Indy and all I wanted was to find a good yard sale and hopefully pick up some cheap instruments or Super Nintendo games or something cool. This hasn't been a tour full of many souvenirs. I drove around aimlessly for a little while hoping for a sign or two. But all I could find were signs for houses for sale, which is not the same at all. Finally I decided to check out this art museum on the north side of town that I had heard had a cool house installation piece. The museum was attached to an art school and had mostly pieces from its students, which were by and large pretty amazing. This is Pen Pen posing for the cover of his Led Zeppelin cover band's next album.

Outside was a sculpture court with pieces from all over the country. Mostly steel and iron works. The house was in the back, and is one of the coolest pieces of large scale conceptual art I've seen. This is Pen Pen sad that this is the one house in Indy that's NOT for sale.

I made it to the venue around 6 and walked around for a while trying to figure out if I was in the right place. The Hoosier Dome (not to be confused with the former home of the Colts) is a store-front DIY space in what used to be a discount tobacco store. There are pretty much no markings or anything at all to indicate that it's any sort of performance space. Luckily other people started to show up around 6:30 and I stopped worrying that I was in the wrong place. The show was a lot of fun. I really like the Piradical crew. Of all the people I've played shows for, their community is one of the most warm and welcoming in the country. (I also write periodically for their blog, so I'm obviously totally unbiased in this...) It seemed like pretty much everyone there was in some way shape or form involved in putting it together, so it felt like a real community event which is always awesome. This is Pen Pen working their state of the art lighting system.

After the show, Cory, Mitch, Stephen, Sasha and I went bowling at 3am, which seemed like a really good idea at the time. They go fairly frequently and are all pretty good (even Sasha who was essentially blind without her contacts in). I haven't been in maybe a year, and wasn't very good a year ago. I bowled a 42 the first game and a 57 the second game. My goal was to get at least half of Stephen's score. I successfully didn't do that, so now clearly I have to practice my bowling before I come back to Indy to save my (already prettymuch non-existent) dignity. We headed back to the Pirad house around 5 and I fell asleep about 2 minutes into Tron. This is Pen Pen abiding.

This is a song I wrote this one time. You should download it and share it with your friends.

L Train Ode by nathanleigh

Adventure #32: 2011 Tour (Cincinnati, OH and Bloomington, IN)

Adventure #32: 2011 Tour (Cincinnati, OH and Bloomington, IN)

It was early afternoon as I pulled into Cincinnati. I headed over to Jenny's and hung out for a bit. I was convinced the show was at 7, so I wanted to head out by 6 at the latest to grab some food and get set up. We got there and I apologized for being late. The barista looked at me confused. She said “when are you supposed to play?” I said “I think 7.” She didn't argue. Jenny and Adam did though. So we checked online to confirm. Turns out the show was at 9. So I was 2 and a half hours early to the show. I feel this makes up for being chronically late to everything my entire life. Now we're even. Anyway, the show was fun. There was a guy from New Zealand I think who was one of the most overwhelmingly positive people I've ever talked to after a show, which is always good. Also met a guy who wants to help out with album art in the future. Double good! This is Pen Pen flirting with a lamp.

I woke up the next morning to Jenny's kids standing over me doing everything in their power to wake me up to play. It was 7 am. We had finally gone to bed around 4:30. Apparently 4 and 7 is to young to grasp the concept of “Uncle Nathan is kind of hungover and wants to sleep.” However 4 and 7 are apparently not too old to make fun of someone for being a hipster and wearing girl pants. Everyone's a critic. This is Pen Pen hanging out with Trenton, ironically.

For a long time Jenny and I have been talking about how we wanted to go to the Creation Museum in nearby Kentucky. Every time I drive through the area I can't help but have my interest piqued by the billboards. Since Bloomington isn't too far from Cincinnati we decided this was the day.

[begin disclaimer / rant] I don't mean to mock people for their religious beliefs. Faith is generally a good thing, and something I often wish I had more of. But the movement in this country to bring us back to Medieval times is both dangerous and hypocritical. You can't make animatronic dinosaurs to put on Noah's Ark without some serious science and technology behind it. And using the consumer offspring of modern science in order to condemn modern science betrays a bit of a conflict of interest. I guess if you really want to live 400 years ago you can deny all the science you want, but at least try be consistent about it, OK? That means no medicine, no internet, and no animatronic dinosaurs. You don't get to have it both ways. [end disclaimer / rant]

This is Pen Pen being devoured by an animatronic T-Rex which is in no way shape or form related to birds but is related to dragons, which exist (these are all facts I learned at the Museum).

Although I had gone to be snarky and possibly start trouble, I ended up being overwhelmed by my curiosity. This isn't really a worldview that I'm ever exposed to firsthand in my tiny snarky New England bubble. It actually wouldn't have been so bad had they not devoted huge chunks of the exhibit to trashing the ACLU and depicting distinctly Brooklyn looking street scenes as evidence that humanity was being judged for the sin of scientific rigor. I like my slum, thankyouverymuch. It may smell bad, but it's home. And frankly, when done well graffiti can be quite beautiful. This is Pen Pen learning about the Kama Sutra via some tasteful animatronic nudes.

Our curiosity / need to be right all the time about everything satisfied, I headed off to Bloomington for a show at Rachael's Cafe. It's sort of a long story, but basically I had a show fall through and had gotten in touch with Rachael's to see if I could play there. They already had an act booked for the night but said I could play after In Accord, who were an accordion quintet that played folk and classical songs. Not entirely my scene, but they were really good. The place was completely packed. Wall to wall people. I couldn't even find a place to sit. Things were looking good. Then their set ended and the entire audience got up and left. 100% of the audience. The only people left by the time I started were me and 3 people who worked there. Things were looking less good. A few girls that I had met earlier in the evening when they randomly pulled over in a car and asked for a piggyback ride to a Starbucks a mile down the road showed up and brought a half dozen roses which they proceeded to chuck at my head while I played. Everything in that run on sentence literally happened. And was awesome. This is Pen Pen singing smooth RnB ballads in a bed of roses.

This is a song I wrote this one time. You should download it and share it with your friends.

House On Stilts (demo1) by nathanleigh

Adventure #31: 2011 Tour (Lock Haven, PA and Lima, OH)

Adventure #31: 2011 Tour (Lock Haven, PA and Lima, OH)

In the summer of 2005 I worked at a tiny theatre in Mill Hall, PA called The Millbrook Playhouse. The hours were long and the pay was...minimal. True, I met some close friends there that I am deeply grateful to know, but it still stands as a low water mark in my life when I need something to compare a bad experience to in order to make myself feel better. I lived in the Lock Haven dorms, where my greatest joy was tormenting my roomate, Eric. Also drinking. Those were as far as I can recall, my only two joys of that summer. Luckily I did them both whenever possible. As such I've felt no need to return to the great city of Lock Haven, PA. But while planning this tour, I saw a coffeeshop venue in Lock Haven that had good reviews from some performers that had passed through. The vampire's call of nostalgia was too powerful to resist. So into my Toyota Albatross I climbed and set sail for adventure! I made it to Avenue 209 Coffee just in time for the show. This is Pen Pen playing a rousing rendition of Denis Leary's Asshole song which almost got Eric and I fired this one time.

The show was small, but it was an enthusiastic audience at least. A few people bought CDs, and I was deeply amused to discover that there were 2 Millbrook board members in attendance. Sadly they were not Hobermans, the makers of the kugel that basically saved my life that summer. There was a woman there with her son who spent the whole time drawing in the background. Before she left, she handed me an abstract picture she had drawn in Cray Pas. She told me it was my show in painting form. I think it's probably better than my show was. This is Pen Pen, frankly humbled.

After the show I hit up a bar with Camille and a few of her friends. Sadly I couldn't remember the name of the bar where I wasted many a post-show evening back in the day. I'm pretty sure this wasn't it. There were no darts, as far as I could tell. And Journey was most definitely and disappointingly not playing on the jukebox. Somehow I got into a discussion about Nirvana vs. Dubstep. This is like arguing Apples vs. Hoverboards. Both good, but not really comparable. We compromised on the dubstep remix of Smells Like Teen Spirit, which is pretty sweet. Camille let me crash out on a couch in her dance studio which was surprisingly comfortable. This is Pen Pen totally hitting on an Elite Cheerleader.

In the morning I had 3 goals. They were:

1. visit the Millbrook Playhouse and see if it was still not on fire. (It was. Not on fire, that is)
2. visit Sheetz for a sweet sweet Shmagel; the holy grail of road food. Also one of the two things I ate that summer. Lock Haven is not known for it's vegetarian faire. (Hence the life-saving Hoberman Kugel)
3. See the Amish hitching their horses and buggies in front of the Walmart across the street from the theatre (that was quite literally their advertising tagline back in my day. The Millbrook Playhouse! Across The Street From The Walmart! I kid you not.)

I accomplished 2 of those goals. Sadly the Amish were too busy raising a barn. This is Pen Pen in front of a theatre which is not on fire.

The drive to Lima was unexciting. Much like Lima. Everyone at the Meeting Place was super friendly, but the place was pretty much dead. If the previous nights' show had been small but appreciative, this was just small. Most people in the place sat as far away from the performance area as possible and interacted as little as possible. John, who works there sometimes brought out his guitar and asked if I'd play it since he'd never used its' pick-up before. It was a nice electric acoustic Alvarez with a really bright tone. I think the highlight of the night was when he asked if I knew Desperado. I said I didn't, and somehow we compromised on Mr. Bright Side which I had also never played but at least figured I could fake it. The Eagles vs. The Killers? Hey 2006, I've got a great idea for a mash-up for you! I think I'm going to add it to the repertoire now. This is Pen Pen playing imaginary chess with the imaginary audience.

This is a song I wrote this one time. You should download it and share it with your friends.

Family of Ghosts (demo1) by nathanleigh