We arrived to the Beachand Ballroom in Cleveland, OH and Addie brought us down to the Vintage Shop in the basement, which is right off the Greenroom, and has a separate entrance to the outside. We shopped in this cute lil vintage thrift store for a while and I found some amazing pants that seem to be tailored to me, Dave got some awesome shirts, and Matt also got a great denim button shirt. We all wore our new finds on stage that night.
The Beachland Ballroom is a 500 person venue that has a sorta 70s high school gymnasium vibe, with a big curtained stage. There is another small venue in the building too, called the Beachland Tavern, and we learned that The Black Keys had their first show in the tavern in the early 2000s. The White Stripes also played one of their first shows there... Wild! The place filled up, and we had a full standing room listening to our set. The whole front row was super sweet, and standing right up against the stage, saying things like "y'all have the coolest band!" They had looked my name up before and were requesting Red Neck Yaught Club, which always feels really nice. The sound guy was very on that night, and was adding some cool vocal reverb / slap back effects that I was thoroughly enjoying. I felt like I could sing anything.
We had a funny time at the merch table after with some very interesting interactions with people. There are some characters in Cleveland.. We ended up just hanging in the green room till the end of the set because we didn't want to lose our voices from talking so much, and people kept trying to talk to us wherever we stood. Nice crowd though! At the end of the show we stood at the merch table and signed lots of cds and took lots of pictures with children and adults, and had some more funny interactions with people. I'm so thankful that the label helped put together this little live recorded EP I've been selling. Its really made such a difference on tour... Although it's not my actual album, people generally just want a lil souvenir to take with them, and/or to support us in some way, and they don't necessarily want another t-shirt.
We didn't have a plan as to where we were staying until the venue owner, Cyndy, offered us her air b n b that happened to not be booked that evening. It was right behind the venue and she wanted to hook us up. So we got the whole house to ourselves!
We ate at a diner in Cleveland the next morning and made the 6 hour drive to College Park, MD to stay with Matt's girlfriends' aunt & uncle, Julie and Oboe and their sweet doggy Raina Mae. Julie made us the best chili I have ever eaten, and we all talked about how deeply tragic the Gaza situation is. It is strange and troubling to be on tour during this time doing what I love most, knowing that millions of people are deeply suffering with no way out. It makes me not want to document or advertise on social media, because it feels like we should be putting our effort towards spreading awareness to end this genocide. Alas, life also must go on. Despite how deeply fucked it all is, it seems we have zero say at this point.
We watched Uncut Gems and it was absolutely amazing. Went to bed.
Ate at an amazing diner the next morning called the College Park Diner. The place had a very modest atmosphere and the entire staff was Latina women. We sat at the counter and got to watch them prep and cook everything, and it was hands down the best diner food I have ever had. I ordered the exact same thing I had the morning before in Cleveland and it was 10x better.
We drove into Annapolis and went to KA-CHUNK, a record store. It was a sweet spot in an otherwise very touristy seeming town, very similar to Camden or Bar Harbor, ME. We all got a lil something (I got Dolly Parton, Dave ALVVAYS and Matt something else) and then we walked out and randomly ran into Gabe Blodgett and his family. We were all quite taken off guard, as none of us belong in this small town and I think Rockland is the furthest I've ever seen Gabe from Camden, but we had a lovely chat on the sidewalk. Dave actually knows Gabe's dad well from boat building, and hadn't seen him in years because he now lives in Florida. We love coincidences !
The label set up a radio station interview, so we drove to a guys' house nearby and had a nice conversation and played some songs. The program won't be featured until after the first two singles from the album come out.
That night we played at Rams Head on Stage in Annapolis, MD. This was our first seated venue. We got amazing food before hand, had a great sound check, and then focused on not losing my voice. I was having a hard time hitting those high notes... While we were waiting for our food, Hank was playing the piano next to the stage and Addie called me over to come under the piano. We laid underneath it while he was playing the music beautiful improvised jazzy Christmas songs. Truly magical.
We had a lovely sold out show to a very welcoming crowd. I hit almost all the notes, and people were very enthusiastic after the show. Unfortunately this venue takes a 20% merch cut and also does not let us sell it ourselves, so I couldn't put my email list out, or encourage people to buy things. But I just kinda stood near the area they were selling and lots of people came up to take pictures and chat and give me little gifts and such. The people of Annapolis are very nice, and I felt so welcomed by them all.
ALSO, my old music professor, Michael Farley came out, and it was very fun to catch up with him. He was hosting us too, so we drove to Baltimore after and had a lovely stay with him and his wife, Barbara.
We slept much later than we expected and Barbara had prepared breakfast for us in the morning! We sat around the table and chatted endlessly and drank coffee and ate yummy food. Probably my favorite thing to do in life.
Michael led us to a music store and I bought a cable and then we were on our way.
Tonight we play in Sellersville, PA, a place none of us has ever heard of.
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