Adventure #101: Philadelphia, PA and Wilmington, DE

I'm continually amazed by the transformative powers of music. I can spend an entire morning driving in a terminally pissy mood; tired, sore, frustrated, homesick, and then suddenly a radio station in West Virginia plays Living Colour's “Cult of Personality.” By the end of the intro I'm a person again. By the end of the first verse I'm singing along at top volume. By the end of the first chorus I'm re-energized and invincible. This is Pen Pen, future cult of personality.

I was undecided about Philly at first. The last show I'd played there was disappointing at best. Plus I lost a mic stand at it. Bah! Driving around in search of a coffee shop to finish some work, I ended up on a street so covered with cherry blossoms that it was slippery. Philly's not so bad. The show that night was actually pretty solid. It was a small crowd, but warm. Everyone there was participating, shouting out random covers, singing along. Interrupting my rambling stories with their own. Though many of us were strangers at the beginning of the night, the power of a Tom Petty singalong and a poorly executed impromptu Queen cover transformed us into friends. Fun fact: Queen sounds dumb on an acoustic guitar. Todd from the Susan Drangle House showed up. In all my years of touring, exactly twice has someone I've approached about a show said “we can't do it, but let me know if you get a show and I'll come check it out and you can crash with us!” It was seriously humbling. Maybe it doesn't sound like much to people who don't tour a lot, but it meant a lot to me. This is Pen Pen warming up to this whole Philadelphia thing.

Delaware, on the other hand, I had no preconceptions about. I've never gotten out of my car in Delaware. Sure I've driven through a bunch of times, but always on the way to somewhere else. It turns out Delaware is pretty great—or at least Wilmington is. I ended up talking to a store owner for almost an hour (his son discovered Norah Jones, apparently!) before one of the other patrons started telling me all the places I should play next time I'm in town. When I got to Mojo13 it was totally empty. “I'm the featured artist tonight. I was told to show up around 7:30.” I explained to blank stares. By 9, a few folks had started to trickle in. By the time the music started, this group of strangers and acquaintances had become friends. I finished my set backed up on congas by a bassist who had snubbed me earlier in the evening and against whom I had nursed a foolish but short-lived grudge. I don't really understand how playing music together can turn people into friends without a single word passing between them. I don't understand how the right song coming on the radio at the right time can transform you from a cranky tortoise into a real live human person. And I guess I hope I never do. Magic tricks are diminished when you know their secrets. The world needs all the magic it can get. This is Pen Pen crossing the Delaware.

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

Adventure #35: Summer 2012 Tour Lock Haven, PA

It is my determination to not let this become one of the millions (billions?) of blogs whose final post starts with something like “I really need to update this more...” before going the way of myspace and friendster. I actually wrote blogs for many of the shows on my last few tours but ended up never having the time to post them. So to summarize the past year or so worth of adventures: many were good. Some were terrible. I got really sick and canceled a bunch, then my car got sick too so I couldn't really do much for about 9 months. Then I had surgery on my gimpy lung, bought a new car (The Hatchback of Notre Dame) and now I'm playing again. Victory and cake for all!

There's something about the first show of every tour. There's always something. This time around it was insane traffic and repairs on my touring mate's car. So I showed up 45 minutes late without the other act (Joshua Stephens, formerly of 19 Action News, who for those of you following along that would be the band I played with the last time I bothered to update this thing.). I am the king of professionalism. The show itself was pretty good. The folks at Avenue 209 are always super friendly, so even when there's hardly anyone there at least it doesn't feel like a wasted night. It was weird performing again after so long off. I kept expecting my lung to hurt, afraid of every high note, but it handled OK. Singing after major surgery on your lungs is a bit like driving a new car. It's not better or worse. Just different. I think the tour might not be a horrible mistake after all. This is my lungs, being OK.

I got up and headed off to Cleveland in the morning. I stopped for lunch in Clarion, Pennsylvania. It's the kind of town that has heavy artillery in the town square. It's also apparently the kind of town where you can see an elderly woman with a walker stumble out of a tattoo parlor at 2 in the afternoon on a Tuesday. In other words: it's awesome. This is Pen Pen trying to buy a copy of the next book in the Foundation series at the local bookstore and shaking his fist in rage at the sky because they only had the first book.

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

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 #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

Adventure #29: Pittsburgh (December 2010 Tour)

Adventure #29: Pittsburgh (December 2010 Tour)

I woke up later than planned, frantically finished packing, and headed down to my car, where the bastards who own the trucking company that moved my car and left it in the middle of the road a few weeks ago was in the process of doing the same thing to someone else. Jeff's Express: your days are numbered. I took lots of pictures. With faces. Jerks. I finally got on the road with just enough time to make it to Pittsburgh. It should also be noted at this point, that when you misspell December, spell check suggests “dismember.” Which is just awesome. This is Pen Pen kissing his love goodbye before heading off on the road.

The drive across Pennsylvania was long and dull. I'm still captivated by corn fields and train yards, but highways through mountains just don't do it for me anymore. I've moved on to stronger stuff. I pulled in to Pittsburgh with half an hour before the show was supposed to start and walked into the empty coffee shop. I was a little concerned, but Nathan and Ben who ran the place assured me that there were people coming and it would be a fun night. Also they spelled my name wrong on the placard outside. So I had a fresh zucchini panini (which is fun to say) and chatted with them for a bit before getting set up. This is Pen Pen in front of the side of the placard where they spelled my name right because I promised I wouldn't post pictures of the other side.

The show was actually a lot of fun. People started filtering in during the first few songs and pretty soon the place was pretty well packed. Everyone there was super supportive and friendly. Previously, I had assumed this was some mid-western virtue. But increasingly I'm thinking it may not be that people outside of New York and Boston are particularly nice; it's just that we're all jerks. We all hung out for a while after I played. A few people missed the point of a mailing list and put their actual mailing addresses down. These people will be getting postcards. This is Pen Pen performing Ben Folds Five's entire discography in under 2 minutes.

After the show, I headed back to Eliza's place and set up her air mattress in the living room. It self inflates and sounds like a house collapsing. Truly, this is the future. We made pasta and stayed up for a while chatting about religion and science and Costco. I curled up on the surprisingly comfortable air mattress of the future with a cat at my side. Day one of the tour: total success. This is Pen Pen in the future.

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

Scrooge Without A Frown by The Tremendous Seasons

Adventure #21: Fall 2010 Tour (Day 6)

Adventure #21: Fall 2010 Tour (Day 6)

I woke up around 8 to the sound of Rooster, Devan and Claire's cat, running at full speed back and forth across the room. For a moment, I missed Katy's cat Fatty (aka Fatty2Dope). Just a moment. I was having none of it, so I curled back up and passed back out. I woke up again at 9 remembering that Harrisburg is 8 hours away, and not getting any closer. The police were generous enough to leave me a $30 ticket on my car. Great. This is Pen Pen cursing whatever mounty left that ticket and the horse he rode in on.

At the border, I decided to make things easy on myself and just told them I did theatre sound (hence the gear). Apparently so does the border guard's brother. He couldn't remember the tour he was on, and I didn't recognize the name. Still, small world. This is Pen Pen surprised they had a special line for birds to cross the border.

The trip through New York and Pennsylvania was mostly small country roads. I got turned around once or twice, and resolved that as soon as I can, I'm buying a GPS. Relying on hand scrawled directions from Google Maps, is maybe not the best system for navigating the country. I can't imagine how people did this in the dark ages when they only had AAA maps. I made it to Harrisburg around 6 and headed straight for Messiah College where I was playing. Harrisburg is a small city (especially for a state capital...I had always assumed it was Pittsburg) but quite pretty. This is Pen Pen admiring the Romanesque bridges that span the river.

The show was a total DIY affair. We played in what was basically a dorm common area. I spent most of the night hanging out with Kyle Rictor and his wife Kelsey who played right before me. Apparently they had played at All Asia the week before I did. Again, small world. Or perhaps it's a big world, and I just go a lot of places. Either way. The show itself was a lot of fun. I played totally unplugged on top of a dresser to the various residents of the dorm. After the show, Phil, the guy who set it up, made us all dinner. Although it's a far cry from places like Piano's, I love playing this sort of show. Playing to people who are genuinely attentive and enthusiastic, and not just mildly appreciative of the background noise, is one of the best feelings in the world. I'll definitely be coming back here. Show #6: Victory. Next up: the longest drive in the world, to Indianapolis. This is Pen Pen calling the top bunk.

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

Apart by nathanleigh