Night Eight: Anniston, Ala. – 2/11/2016
Statistics
Miles Driven: 102 Miles
Food: Sandwich, apple, rice cake, granola bar, cookie
Hours Slept: 8 hours
Lodging: Woke up in a motel. Driving back to Michigan after tonight’s show
Weather: 55 degrees
Expenses
Gas: $35
Food: $6 chinese buffet
Journal Entry –
Tonight is our last show of tour. I’m going to say right now, meeting Watching for Foxes has been one of the greatest things that has happened to me musically in a while. These seven guys and I have built a solid friendship, and I can’t wait to see them again. Now that’s out of the way, we woke up in Huntsville and made our way to Anniston, Ala. Tonight we are playing the Caldwell Tavern. I played here last year. It’s a solid room with local talent that enjoys playing here. Tonight’s lineup includes: myself, Watching for Foxes and Levi Hunter.
For a majority of the day after arriving, we walked around town and just layed around at the venue. We were exhausted. These past few days were amazing and a lot of fun, but after feeling the amount of exhaustion, I think we can all agree that we’re excited to sleep in our own beds. This is my last tour for about two or three weeks. I go out for two weeks next month.
By the time 8 pm.. rolled around, it was time to begin the show. We had a small crowd, but we were ready to give it our all for one more night. Levi Hunter performed first. She is a local musician from Anniston that plays acoustic/blues and has fantastic lyrics. It was a great opportunity to play a show with her as well as networking with hopes of bringing her up to Michigan to perform sometime. After I played, I was able to see Watching for Foxes once more. It’s been a pleasure watching these guys play every night and I’m going to miss it, but I’ll be excited to see them once again.
The show ended by 11 p.m. and we were loaded up and out the door by 11:30 p.m. We decided to drive back to Michigan after the show. A 13 hour trip with plenty of driving shift changes, sleeping on and off, and shitty gas station coffee. We made it though. It was rough, but we did it. As I write this, I am zoning in and out, ready to fall face first right onto my keyboard. I start my next tour on March 4 and I’ll be heading east. I will end with this, I am forever grateful for the people that I meet and the adventures I get to experience. I’m excited to keep bringing you along.
Night Seven: Nashville, Tenn. – 2/10/2016
Statistics
Miles Driven: 77 miles
Food: Sandwich, apples, rice cakes, water, hotel breakfast
Hours Slept: 7 hours
Lodging: Drove to Alabama at the end of the night
Weather: Rain, Snow, 20 degrees
Expenses
Gas: $30
Food: None
Journal Entry –
We arrived in Nashville. What a fun town to be in and even though I’ve only been here when it was warm, the winter weather couldn’t stop us from having a great time. For a majority of the day we explored, basically did every touristy thing you could do. We mainly walked down music row/Broadway and checked out the bars, restaurants and stores. At one point it was snowing a lot, then raining, and then ice, but we were very excited to play in the music city. Tonight we played at The Country in East Nashville, a newer venue which was very nice.
Bundling up was important today, otherwise we would freeze. We had no idea where we were staying tonight and our only option really was to drive to Alabama and hope to find a cheap motel. None of this mattered at the time though, we were in Nashville! We made our way toward the venue, had a couple drinks and hung out. Watching for Foxes and myself were the only acts playing later this evening, the local band had to drop due to last minute conflicts. Before we loaded in and played, there was a singer-songwriter round going on with four talented artists (I forgot their names) and we were hoping more people would eventually make their way out for a night of music.
From what we hear and experienced, Nashville pretty much shuts down when the weather gets nasty. No one down here knows what goes on in the Midwest, and it definitely showed tonight. Even though not a lot of people came out to watch or enjoy drinks, a couple of our friends showed up. One of them being my good friend Nathan K. (solo musician/Stepdad guitarist) and it was very nice to catch up and see him. We made friends with the sound guy (Paul) and he was even trying to help us find a place to stay for the night, but unfortunately we had no luck. We both played our hearts out. It’s important to do that regardless of turnout, you shouldn’t perform less than you normally do just because of a low attendance. 110% all the way.
After loading out and packing up, we headed to Cafe Coco for a coffee and to talk with the sound guy more before realizing we weren’t going to find a space in Nashville to rest for a few hours. We decided to make our way to Huntsville, Ala. and we found a very cheap motel. By the time we arrived it was 4 a.m., and we were all very tired. Except we didn’t fall asleep right away because we were staying up spooking each other out (true story) and saying that someone was going to murder us inside of this “cockroach” motel…. Thankfully we made it out alive. Tomorrow we play our last show in Anniston, Ala..
Night Six: Louisville, Ky. – 2/9/2016
Statistics
Miles Driven: 100 miles
Food: Sandwiches, apples, water, granola
Hours Slept: 5 hours
Lodging: Hotel (split among eight guys)
Weather: snowy, 10 degrees, freezing my butt off
Expenses
Gas: $15
Food: BBQ pulled pork sandwich ($10)
Journal Entry –
We set off from Cincinnati and made our way to Louisville, a town I’ve grown to love. The first time I ever played Louisville was in 2014 on Kentucky Derby day. That was the first time I ever encountered southern hospitality… This time it wasn’t as warm like it was before. When we arrived in Louisville it was pretty damn cold. We hung around at tonight’s venue called Spinelli’s, a pizza joint/music venue in downtown Louisville. With the fear of freezing and the cold winter weather arriving in the south, we stuck around inside until load in time.
The first time I’ve ever been to Spinelli’s was in November of 2014. I was on tour with Darn Wishes and unfortunately, due to me being sick and having no voice, I was unable to play the show. I thought this could be a chance to redeem myself and to play an awesome show in town… and to eat all of the delicious pizza they offer. They host shows pretty often, which are usually done by 11 p.m. The pizza continues being made and they are open for business until 5 a.m. Tonight’s lineup consist of myself, Watching for Foxes, Dot, and The Spaghetti Western. The two local acts are younger high school bands, and they sounded fantastic. It’s always reassuring that there’s still young bands that exist.
Tonight was a fantastic turnout. The crowd was enjoying the music from every act that played, and the compliments given to the touring acts were overwhelmingly amazing. When you play for new faces, it’s your time to shine with hopes that they understand what you’re trying to say and get the kind of music you represent. It help keeps the touring aspect of my music career special, never boring, and always a reminder that you’re doing what you love. The music this evening began around 7 pm… the show ended by 10 p.m. Early shows are always beneficial to the bands, especially the ones who are used to hitting the stage at midnight. Our show ended earlier than normal, but our night was just beginning. Due to weather becoming nasty by the hour, we decided to drive for a little bit towards Nashville. We stopped in Bowling Green, Kentucky to stay in a hotel for the night. Thankfully this won’t break the budget too much since we split the hotel bill eight ways, that helps us all out. As soon as we made it to the hotel room, some of us (myself, Joey, Geoff and Cameron) immediately dropped our things in our room and ran downstairs to cram in the last fifteen minutes of hot tub availability. My gosh was it glorious. Tomorrow we drive Nashville to play at The Country.
Night Five: Cincinnati, Ohio – 2/8/2016
Statistics
Miles Driven: 107
Food: Apples (3), Peanut Butter Sandwich (1), Water
Hours Slept: 5 hours
Lodging: Tom Kat’s floor (he’s a good friend of mine)
Weather: 20 degrees and snowy
Expenses
Gas: $30 split between two cars to fill up the tanks.
Food: Coffee, muffin, beer
Journal Entry –
The day before Cincinnati (Super Bowl Sunday) we spent an extra day in Columbus on our day off and had no show. We began our drive to Cincinnati and arrived around 2:30 p.m. and grabbed a coffee from Sidewinder (my favorite coffee shop in town) and hung out until 4 p.m., which was the time the bar opened up so we could load in our equipment. In the afternoon, the weather seemed like it couldn’t make up its mind, by the evening everything was icy and more snow was falling from the skies. Thankfully we were able to get into Urban Artifact (venue) by the time the weather became nasty.
Urban Artifact is a newer bar/music venue in Cincinnati, specializing in craft beer and sour brews (I had too many), the venue is beautiful. Originally an old church, a few individuals saw something different in the building and turned it into what it is now. By far the nicest room I’ve played yet and it sounded absolutely beautiful. By 4:30 we were all set up and loaded in. Tonight’s bill consisted of two other locals, Folded Arms (Tom) and Sleepy Drums (Jon), these are two guys I’ve been playing Cincinnati shows with for about three years now, every time I come through town I ask them to play a show with me. We’ve turned into good friends.
The show was to begin at 7:30 p.m. and we were seeing no sign of people showing up. Taking into consideration that the weather was pretty nasty out (something Cincinnati isn’t always used to) and the venue was newer, we managed to meet a couple of locals on the streets of Cincinnati who made their way out. Even though the turnout was very low, there was one gentleman that found out about the show through an app called Bandsintown. His name was Pete, a 50-year-old gentleman that found out about my music and show in Cincinnati, which lead him to the venue this evening. This guy was at Urban Artifact for the music, and he really enjoyed my set and Watching for Foxes set. He liked us so much, he ended up buying us $50 worth of coneys after the show… (pretty sure he was a little tipsy) and hung out with us for three extra hours until we went back to Tom’s for the night to sleep.
Tom has been a friend of mine for a couple of years now. He prints all of my shirts and plays shows with me when I come through town. He’s a very giving and kind soul that always offers his place to sleep at when needed and for that I am forever thankful to have him as a friend. Tomorrow morning we’ll wake up and get moving to Louisville, Kentucky, where we’ll be playing at a pizza shop/music venue called Spinelli’s.
Night Three: Columbus, Ohio – 2/6/2016
Statistics
Miles Driven: 185
Food: Sandwich, apple
Hours Slept: 5 hours and 30 minutes.
Lodging: Slept on Taylor’s floor
Weather: 45 degrees and sunny.
Expenses
Gas: $20
Food Purchased: Chipotle (free burrito)
Journal Entry –
After an early morning of exploring in Pittsburgh, Taylor and I made our way to the Shadyside neighborhood once again. My first attempt to meet up with the rest of the guys didn’t work out… I was locked out of the house and they were still asleep, I’m laughing as I write this. While we waited, we decided to go grab a coffee and play pinball at the “Kickback Pinball Cafe” which was a very cool spot. We managed to blow through an hour until it was time to head back, this time I was able to get inside of the house Watching for Foxes stayed at. Taylor and I went seperate ways, and myself and the guys gathered our things and hit the road. Tonight we were playing in Columbus, Ohio and it was my first time playing this city.
On our way to Columbus, we stopped by Chipotle. A cool thing about this restaurant chain is that some of the locations around the U.S. feed touring bands and musicians for free. Joey called ahead and we scored the right location to feed our empty stomachs. I must say, even though Chipotle recently had their fair share of negative reviews, this was quite delicious. We finished the rest of our food, cleaned up and continued our way to Columbus. By the time we’d be reaching the venue, it would be 6 p.m., which was our load-in time.
Tonight we played at a venue called Kafe Kerouac with two other acts named Sports and Out Of The Pine. The cafe was on one side, and the small stage/listening room was on the other. For the most part, the show was well attended which is always an exciting thing about playing shows on tour. Playing for a lot of new people, and even most of them (besides a few) listened instead of talking in the back. As an acoustic artist, it can be a struggle playing over a bunch of talkers, but that’s when you win them over, which I think I did. By the time Watching for Foxes took the stage, the energy of the show was high.
Brief side note: as I continue to watch these guys play every night, it’s becoming more of a treat for me. WFF has the most talented musicians I’ve met in a while and their music is very moving. The night went on, plenty of drinks were consumed (the venue served beer and mixed drinks) and we eventually loaded up the trailer after the show and decided to walk a few minutes up the street for pizza. Now I won’t get into some of the events that happened, but let’s just say that this was one of the more crazier nights of tour, but definitely tons of fun.
At the end of the night, we split up the group evenly and slept on the floors of two different show promoters houses. We have no show tomorrow and it’s the Superbowl. We’re taking the day to catch up on work, going to write and take it easy for the day before our show in Cincinnati on Monday.
Night Two: Pittsburgh – 2/5/2016
Statistics
Miles Driven: 134 miles
Food: Apple, sandwich, granola, water and coffee.
Hours Slept: 5 hours
Lodging: Slept at a friend of a friend’s house.
Weather: 40 degrees and sunny.
Expenses
Gas: $20 (my turn to fill up the tank)
Food Purchased: Muffin
Journal Entry –
As we all woke up and showered to get ready for the day in Pittsburgh, we decided to set off and explore. The house we were sleeping at was located in Shadyside (neighborhood in east Pittsburgh) and right up the strip was where all of the businesses and bars were located. We stopped at a coffee shop called “Crazy Mocha” to fill up on our daily dose of coffee and to catch up on work that needed to be done on the computer. Later in the evening we would be playing at a new house venue that was set up by a former contact I had for a show in the area in 2014.
The day went on and we all just relaxed and hung out at the house we stayed at until it was time to go to the venue. The kind of days where there’s plenty of relaxation, it’s never a bad thing whatsoever. We had a couple drinks and eventually started making our way to the southside of Pittsburgh. One thing I’ve noticed about Pennsylvania, with the little amount of time that I’ve spent in this state, is that there’s a lot of hills… every street is on a hill. Upon arriving to the house, one of my best friends, Taylor Bickerstaff, was coming out to watch and hang out with us. Once we found a parking space (it was very hard to park on these streets with a trailer) we went and found the house we were playing.
Our night was just beginning. The house is owned by a girl named Kayla, an active promoter and showgoer in the Pittsburgh music scene, she has also helped me out with a show in the past. Our lineup tonight was all acoustic. I don’t play house shows as often anymore, but when I do it’s always a treat. The first act (acoustic/punk) went under the name Han Shoots First, the second act was Crisp Lake (folk/punk). After the first two playing and finishing up their sets, with smoke breaks happening in between sets, it was my time to play. By this time, the very small living room we played in was packed, and I’m thankful that this crowd was kind and attentive. It’s always reassuring and good to know that when you’re playing a house show, the people who attend are there strictly for the music. Closing out the night was Watching for Foxes… and their acoustic set gave me the goosebumps the whole time.
When the show came to an end we said our goodbyes, loaded up the trailer and discussed our night plans. This evening I decided to split from Watching for Foxes for the night and decided to crash on my friend Taylor’s floor. She recently moved to Pittsburgh from Freeland to work at her father’s new pub. After grabbing a bite to eat and catching up, it was already 3:30 in the morning… we planned on getting up at 8:30 a.m. she could show me a little more of the town. Let’s just say tomorrow morning might be a tough one for myself.
Night One: The Beginning – 2/4/2016
Statistics
Miles Driven: 231 Miles
Food: Peanut butter sandwich, peanuts, granola bars (2), apple, water
Hours Slept: 6 hours
Lodging: Slept at a friend of a friends house in Pittsburgh.
Weather: 27 degrees and snowy.
Expenses
Gas: Splitting with the band. Waiting for my fill up!
Food Purchased: Denny’s (I regret)
Journal Entry –
After waking up around 10 a.m. Thursday morning, I was ready to get moving. The morning turned into the afternoon and I slowly got ready, gathered my things, said goodbye to Lily (my girlfriend), and moved my things downstairs where I waited for Watching for Foxes. As 2 p.m. approached I noticed two cars pulling into the Williams Hall (MSU dorm) parking lot. We have to do this tour with two cars due to Watching for Fox’s van not being up for driving on this run of shows. Regardless, we’re in for a good time.
The band consists of seven members: Joey, Geoff, Brandon, Jared, Cameron, Connor and Ricky. Word on the street is that we’re picking up Ricky in Cincinnati. The car I was riding in was pulling a Uhaul trailer with all of our gear and merchandise. As we set off to Cleveland, it was a good three hour thirty minute drive with Joey, Geoff and Cameron. We were getting to know each other and having a lot of good conversations.
This evening we played at Pats In The Flats. If you were to drive in the area it was located, you wouldn’t think that it exists. I know that first hand, I’ve played here two other times before. There’s tons of history with this venue. One of the coolest facts is that Detroit based band, The White Stripes, played their first out of town show here. It’s owned by Pat, a really nice older lady who loves any kind of music that comes through the door (punk, rock, metal, everything!) and this evening we were playing with two other local acts, Darling and Stoned and Beautiful. After loading in the venue, meeting the folks we were playing with and getting situated, the first night of tour officially began. The line up of the show went like this: Darling, Alex Kostka, Watching for Foxes, Stoned and Beautiful.
Every act that played this evening sounded fantastic. As the night went on, we started to become a little tired. With a sleeping arrangement in place, we knew that we were going to drive to Pittsburgh later on in the night (technically early morning) and after a late night Denny’s trip (weird experience) that’s what we did. Joey’s sister’s friend has a place and open floor for us guys to crash on for the night… and once we arrived at 6 a.m., that’s what we did. As you can see in one of the photos, there’s a dog, her name is Nora and she slept on my back all night. Tomorrow evening we’re playing a house show in Pittsburgh. I’m really excited to play here for the first time. I also get to see one of my best friends, Taylor, who now lives in the area. Night one was a success.
Watching for Foxes
http://watchingforfoxes.bandcamp.com/
http://www.watchingforfoxes.com/
Prepping for February Tour – 2/3/2016
Statistics
Miles Driven: 96 Miles
Food: Omelette and vegetables for breakfast. Bibimbop (a bed of rice, vegetables, beef), coffee and water!
Hours Slept: 8 hours
Lodging: Girlfriend’s dorm!
Weather: 34 degrees and a slight drizzle!
Expenses
Gas: Filled up the tank for $35 dollars today… Pretty awesome!
Food Purchased: Apples, dried cherries, granola bars, peanut butter, bread
Journal Entry –
Well here we are… All set and ready to start my February tour tomorrow. This time around, it’s going to be a little different. I’m not touring by myself this month, I am touring with Grand Rapids based indie/folk/rock band Watching for Foxes. We’ll be sharing two of their vehicles, due to the band’s van having some troubles.
I’m really excited to tour with another band for the first time, as well as sharing the show with them. Tomorrow we start at Pats In The Flats in Cleveland, Ohio. Today, I am adventuring to East Lansing so I can stay with my girlfriend and make it easier for me to be picked up by Watching for Foxes.
An interesting fact about this next run of shows is that I don’t really know the band that I’m touring with at all. I’m a fan of their music, I just don’t personally know them yet. Their lead singer Joey and myself have been communicating through booking this tour on Facebook for a few months now, that’s about it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous, but at the same time I’m ready to get back on the road and play some shows. After having fantastic meals throughout the day (Korean BBQ/Omelette) I am ready for a good night of rest, these next 10 days are going to be a wild ride.
