Last week I wrote a blogpost "Coincidences with a Purpose?" about events leading up to my trio's recording in the town of Seyðisfjörður (population under 800). I always enjoy traveling with a band and especially to the small towns in Iceland. There is a certain sense of calm in these towns, a charm to the old houses and narrow streets and not to mention the beauty of the surrounding mountains and fjords. (read more…)
Trio Recording in Seyðisfjörður
August 13, 2010 12:36 pm | Filed under: Music, Road Stories | Comments (1)
Tags: Blue Church, Kjartan Kjartansson, Recording, Scott McLemore, Seyðisfjörður, ÞorgrÃmur Jónsson
Playing 40km South of the Arctic Circle
July 9, 2010 11:46 pm | Filed under: Music, Road Stories | Comments (0)
Tags: Andres Thor, Hofsós, Iceland, Scott McLemore, Siglufjörður
Four days after returning to Iceland from the USA I packed my bags again and got in the car. This time Scott and I were heading to the northern part of Iceland to play in the town of Siglufjörður which is only 40 km (25 miles) south of the Arctic Circle. (read more…)
US Tour Diary. Day 5 + 6
July 7, 2010 10:40 pm | Filed under: Music, Road Stories | Comments (1)
Tags: Alexis Cuadrado, An Die Musik, Buttonwood Tree, Cambridge, Dan Fabricatore, It's only natural, Lily Pad, Loren Stillman, Noah Baerman, Scott McLemore, US Tour 2010
Day 5, Saturday June 19th. New York to CT
We thought we were giving ourselves plenty of time when we left NY at 3pm but apparently everybody else in New York decided to leave the city at the same time and head up to Maine. Traffic was insane…. like a continuation from the previous night where it took us 3 hours to get from just outside the Lincoln Tunnel to Brooklyn. (read more…)
US Tour Day 4
June 22, 2010 6:54 pm | Filed under: Music, Road Stories | Comments (0)
Tags: Alexis Cuadrado, Cafe Grumpy, Dan Fabricatore, jazz, Park Slope, Scott McLemore, Trumpets, US Tour 2010, V spot, William Paterson
Day 4, Friday June 18th. Baltimore to New Jersey. A Day of Driving.
Driving to New York today was pretty smooth. 
We were shocked by how much we had to pay in road tolls and glad we didn't hit much traffic. We dropped Loren off in Brooklyn since he had another gig that night. We drove around the old hood a little, past our old apt. building and ended up having a great lunch at the V spot on 5th Avenue. (read more…)
US Tour, Day 2 + 3
June 20, 2010 5:00 pm | Filed under: Music, Road Stories | Comments (1)
Tags: Alan Blackman, An Die Musik, Baltimore, Dan Fabricatore, jazz, Loren Stillman, Scott McLemore, US Tour 2010
Day Two and Three. Thursday June 18th. Baltimore
It is amazing how hard it is to find the time to even maintain a blog while on the road and not to mention a internet connection. Sadly our car doesn't come equipped with on.
So Wednesday was our day off, sort of, in Baltimore. Unfortunately instead of chillin' we spent it stuffing 460 envelops with CDs and info sheet to send to radio stations in the US. (read more…)
On The Road Again
June 17, 2010 7:52 pm | Filed under: Music, Road Stories | Comments (3)
Tags: Alan Blackman, Scott McLemore, US Tour 2010
On the Road Again. Tuesday June 15th.
I'm going on the road for a week now with performances in 5 states which you can see here. I will try to keep a tour diary so you can be there with me… in spirit at least if not at the concerts. (read more…)
Touring Central Europe
February 24, 2010 1:00 pm | Filed under: Music, Road Stories | Comments (1)
Tags: Europe, Matt Pavolka, Ohad Talmor, Scott McLemore, Tour 2002
I have played in Central Europe only once and it was quite an experience. It was March 2002. We had been performing in Western Europe and had grown accustomed to crossing borders without showing passports, not having to worry about exchanging currency and communicating using either English, German or French. You might say we'd been spoiled. As soon as we crossed the border of Austria into Central Europe it was apparent that we had left our comfort zone and were in for something decidedly different. (read more…)
Bebop Laundry
February 16, 2010 12:23 pm | Filed under: Road Stories | Comments (0)
Tags: Europe, Matt Pavolka, Tour 2003
Tours seem to have some magical appeal to me. Playing music every night with the same band is great. Seeing new places, although sometimes you're only getting a little glimpse, is neat. But when you spend all day travelling, changing trains and hailing cabs you want to pack lightly.
In 2003 I had a tour of Europe with my quartet. I was living in New York and I had bought brand spanking new pants at the Gap before departure and washed them and all. To keep luggage to a minimum I usually wear a pair of jeans while travelling and then have a couple of pants in my suitcase for performing in. This time however, I decided not to wear my jeans during the flight because the tiny metal buttons on the pockets triggered the alarm at the security gate. Unfortunately my bassist Matt Pavolka spilled coffee on me during the flight. (read more…)
A Bass is Not a Cello – The Preface to a Tour
January 14, 2010 10:25 am | Filed under: Road Stories | Comments (2)
Tags: Europe, Gigs, Loren Stillman, Matt Pavolka, Tour 2003
I am beginning to plan tours again. Currently I am working on booking dates for June in the US and starting to look to Europe for fall. I am also trying to finish up the recording I made in New York last summer with Loren Stillman, Eivind Opsvik and Scott McLemore. As I was browsing through my tour-related files I came across a tour diary from 2003. There is so much planning and organizing that goes into booking a tour. So many details to take care of. Stressful situations come up but things always work out in the end and in hindsight become humorous. (read more…)
Worst Road Trip Ever
November 24, 2009 12:13 am | Filed under: Road Stories | Comments (3)
Tags: Gigs, Matt Pavolka, Road Stories, US
I've been planning on posting a series of stories from some of my road trips, and today on twitter I got the inspiration to kick it off. Guitarist Rob Michael (@AtmosTrio) sent out a 'tweet' with the hashtag #cheesegigthrowdown, asking musicians to share their lamest gig moment. It got me thinking about not just my most lame gig but one disastrous road trip.
When I was living in Brooklyn, I had avoided touring the US because the cities were so far between and so much driving was involved with shitty food along the way. In 2003 I decided to go for it. Yeah! My album "Live in Europe" had just been released, I had hired a radio promoter and I had invitations to play at nice venues in North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and Michigan. So I grabbed my boys, bassist Matt Pavolka and drummer/hubby Scott McLemore and off we drove in our fabulous Ford Windstar. (read more…)
