Maria's "Southern Cooking Tour" Diary

"Tour" Diary 8.9.01 uneventful day of last minute running around, packing, & driving. Did a phone interview w/ Gene Downs of the Savannah Morning news to promote JJ Cagney's. I filled out a list of e-mail questions for Erin Rude of Connect Savannah last week, so that's two articles so far. We left Conshohocken at 4:45 pm (of course), heading south on 476, then 95, then 1, then 13. Meeting Don (drummer) at a campground outside of Norfolk, VA tonight & meeting up with Mark (guitar player) tomorrow not far from there to ditch his car at a self-storage place. He's at Galax, a music festival in VA.

8.10.01 met up w/Mark without incident & headed out @ 1pm. Tip to people hauling trailers: you're hauling an extra axel, travel w/more than $10 in your pocket, all the tolls are more! It's around 95° out but with a great breeze down here in the Outer Banks. If last night was any indication though, sleeping inland next week is going to be challenging. Another tip: Don't travel without a cell phone. Got a call today from Steven Uhles of the Augusta Chronicle & did a short phone interview.

8.10 gig at Howard's Pub in Ocracoke Island. Howard's is a bar/restaurant, making a good deal of their money from food, what Bruce, the booking agent, calls a Food & Beverage gig. These, for those of you who might not know are the money gigs for bands without a strong following. There's usually a decent guaratee, anywhere from $150 to $400, for our four piece. Setup is usually in some corner of the bar where tables have to cleared and people are usually still eating dinner when you go on. Usually, we ramp it up at these places, starting a little slow and quiet, but Jenny Jenkins (see photo), a fan from the General Lafayette moved down here and told us about this place. There was a good crowd to start, and Jenny & friends got the nearby drinkers just a little more revved up than they already were, so we kicked it out from the start. We were pretty reved, too, this being the first gig on the string. It was a top notch gig. People were just there to drink or stayed after dinner to hang out. Someone was dancing all night long. Donnie rocked. Not bad for his second gig ever with us. On break, Don went around the room with the first and second CD in hand and asked people outright if they wanted to buy a CD. 5 people throughout the night went for the 2 for $20 deal (and one person went for it twice, buying four CDs at once) so we sold 12 CDs, which I think, frankly, is a record for us. Anyway, we played two originals and one cover all night long, and whenever anybody asked for a song, I'd tell them the rules. By the end of the night, one of the fans was saying it with me "2 originals, one cover". People stayed all night, and when we were done our last song, we got the last of the drunks together for a photo I've included here. At the end of the night, the owner came up to us and apologized for not being here tonight, that he had to be off island, but everybody who works at the bar gave us rave reviews. He invited us to come back for two nights next time, and he'd hook us up with rooms at the hotel he just bought, and that I should call when we get home in September. Can't wait to come back. It's beautiful down here. We're staying at the Ocracoke Campground. There's no shade here, but the island is so skinny, that no matter where you're camped out, the ocean is just a few hundred yards over the sand dune. Accessible by ferry only, the road stops on this island and there's one more without a road. We're pretty far down in the Banks.

8.12.01 Hot as hell again yetserday so when all of us were up, Steve finaly rising at 11, we headed into Ocracoke Village for some air conditioned lunch. The restuarants on the island are pretty mediocre. Looking forward to just getting some veggies today and staying put. Last night we played the Sandbar and Grill in Frisco on Hatteras Island. It's a small place, maybe 15 tables, the bar down the left side and a pool table. It's mostly a locals hangout. We know this because Don came down and played the Sandbar last year with his band. He said he thought we'd be playing to crickets but it worked out much better than that. John, our regular drummer up in Philly , happened to be driving through (with a small detour) and he brought two people and sat in. Then Jenny & Tina came out again last night and so and when we got there, I found Jenny on the phone reminding her friends on the island that we were in town. Then it happened that a student of Chris Cotter, (who recorded the CD with us) and his family happened to be in town so we actually drew10 people. The room was full by the time we went on and petered out throughout the night with not too many new people comng in. It was pretty warm in the place and Jane just left the door open for air with some fans, so I was drenched by the first set and people were pretty laid back although there was some dancing here and there throughout the night, including a 72 year old guy from VA who had called us Yankees before the gig when we hanging out on the porch, who got a little train going through the room and out the door before he left. We weren't on musically, the way we had been at Howard's although Mark says he felt pretty good about his playing despite a swollen hand from a spider bite the night before. It was a fun night though anyway. To try to sell CDs, I've just been telling people outright, "We're from Philly. We're on the road. According to the odometer we've got another 3000 miles to travel before we're done. If want to help us get to the next town, you can buy our first CD for.$10, our second for $12 and if you can't decide, btoh for $20." People stepped up to the cahllenge and we sold 10 CDs, one at a time this time. Some people did buy the first CD all by it's lonesome but for the most part , if they were gonna buy one, they bought a new one. At the end of the night, squaring up with Jane, she told me this was one of her best nights this summer but it was a weird crowd, mostly tourists and she's a local bar. We really didn't do much to promote the gig. Hung 3 popsters in the bar on the way down on the 10th and flyered the ferry on the way to the gig. Earlier Jane was telling me how she's only gonna have bands that draw from now on because BMI is coming after her for royalties. The certified letter came saying they wanted $500 at first. This is one of the cheaper fees because they're seasonal and she doesn't serve liquor. She got them down to $300 somehow and is paying it, but her point is, she mostly has karioke & original bands that aren't even registered with BMI. She says Karioke does amazingly well but people don't come out with nearly the same enthusiam for live music. This isn't the first time I've heard people make the decision to cut down on live music (& always, it's the venues that support original music) because BMI (an organization supposedly supporting original music) is sending them bills. Anyway, she did offer to have back which is cool, 2 for 2. 8.12.01 (Sunday) a sleepy day @ the beach. Sunset & a few beers at the Silver Lake Lounge with Jim from Pittsburgh who'd camped next to us the night before & a little stargazing on the beach. (Last helpful hints about the campground: If you stay at Ocracoke Campground in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, make reservations. They're a real pain in the ass about it. And bring shade and lots of bug repellent.)

8.13.01 Monday, Caught the 12:30 ferry to Swan something or other and were on the mainland by 2:30pm. Drove through the day across NC to head towards our next gig in Black Mountain, NC, just outside of Asheville, a 10 hour drive. Mark needed a decent nights sleep and a real shower after Galax and the Outer Banks so we stayed at the Super 8 about 1.5 hours away from Black Mountain. To cut costs and to sort of be by the equipment (even though it was in Don's trailer, the place seemed a little sketchy when we checked in at around midnight, with bullet proof glass), Steve and I got permission to sleep in the parking lot in the bus. And, the woman behind the glass let us slide on the extra person charges too. It's not the most pleasant thing in the world to wake up in a hotel parking lot and I hope we don't have to do it again. Anyway, did a little jamming last night in the room and sacked out. I forgot: we met some people on the ferry who live about 2 hours from Black Mountain in Boone. They said they're going back to school on Wed so people would be around Tuesday night (I never went to my first day of school without a hangover) so they gave us the names of a few places that might have us last minute. I followed up on it, but as you might imagine, 24 hours isn't really enough time to staff a bar for music so 3 people said sorry, no, and one person said, "Probably not, but maybe, I'll call you tomorrow." Booking people were pretty nice about it, though, when I called and said we were on the road playing music and were looking to fill out our schedule. One guy tried to book us on Thursday, but we'll be far from here by then playing a gig already.

08.14.01 Tuesday. I'm in the laundromat right now, watching clothes spin. Steve and Don are out foraging for fresh fruit and veggies (been living on starch) and Mark's at the Waffle House getting more starch. The plan is to camp tonight somewhere in a wooded campgroud, a reasonable distance from a lake and mosquitoes. 8.15.01 Wedesday. Never got that call about playing Boone, but we did end up camping far away from a lake or mosquitoes. Mark wanted showers at the next site if possible, so the two campgrounds in the Pisgah National Forest were out. There weren't too many places to camp between Statesville and Black Mtn so against our better judgement, we checked out a private campground from the AAA Camping book just 4 miles off the Old Fort exit of Route 40. It turned out to be a dive and the guy running it wouldn't let us stay in one campsite. He insisted that we'd need two spots, and that would've turned out to be close to $28 so we decided to stay in the national forest anyway. We headed up some little backroads & the Blue Ridge Parkway towards the first campground but never saw a sign for it. The first sign we did see was for Mt. Mitchell State Park, which is just a state park at the highest peak in NC surrounded by the national forest. After a two hour drive, we found out there were only 9 walk-in campsites, intended for backpackers, and none left. By the time we arrived the only thing left open was the restaurant. We found out from the staff that you're allowed to camp along any of the grassy spots along the road. We made a meal in the parking lot with a spectacular view of the sun setting over the mountains and headed down to the first spot outside the state park. It's nice and open, we could see the stars last night when it didn't haze over, and we could make as much noise as we wanted without disturbing anyone. And that's where I'm sitting right now waiting for the sun to burn off some of these clouds. We got a little playing in. Don's learning how to play the banjo. Me and Mark gave him his first lesson at the hotel room and continued a little of it last night around the fire. Playing our first gig tonight that Bruce booked. Heard good things about the room, that they like bluegrass and that regardless of how many people are there, it'll be a good because people actually listen. 8.16 The Town Pump in Black Mountain was fun. Not a lot of people but the ones that were there did appreciate it, had a dancer or two, people did listen and we sold $70 in CDs. Based on our cut of the door, about 26 people came out. Black Mountain's a pretty cool little artist community with lots of music going on all over the place all week long. A surprising amount of competition for such a small town. The Mountain Express did do a couple of paragraphs on us with a photo for the gig. Got an invite to play a bar/restaurant up the highway a bit from Linda, who just happened to be hanging there with her daughter Michelle.. By the end of the night, Linda had given me a bracelet for good luck that a friend had given to her for good luck with a little note saying that it was her good forutne to see us play. Very sweet. Of course, I'm not taking the bracelet off until we're done gigging on the 25th. I don't believe in good luck but I believe in good will. Halfway through the first set, Michelle took off to go gather a few people from the open mic up the street so we might have a few more people listening, and about 8 people from Asheville were there. Not sure if they saw the article in the Asheville-Citizen Times that Tony Kiss ran, but they're from a very big club that Reed, one of the guys who works there, thinks we'd make a good opener at. He was telling us how they've had MMW, G-Love, Galatic, and I can't remember who else there. Anyway, the music was cool. We had a fun time playing. Don keeps saying, "You know what the best part about this gig is? When it's done, we're playing another one tomorrow!" Don comes from a pretty Phish influenced background, and our music's really morphing from it, starting to stretch out and I like the funky stuff he puts behind it. Mark is slammin' on the guitar puttin' the good stuff out no matter how many people are in the room and we're all having fun. Stayed with an ex-Korean War vet/sheriff/forester named Carroll Williams (Woody) who didn't even see us play but came in at the end of the night. He asked if we were staying in town and I told him, "Only if you've got a couch and a big driveway" and in fact, he had those things and hooked us up with a place to stay. Quite a character, born and raised in the Black Mountain area. He also won two free speech awards fighting for fair working conditions for Water Dept employees. Partied a little and crashed out. We slept in his driveway, Don in the bed below and Steve and me in the pop top, Mark on his couch but eventually he had to move to Don's truck due to Woody's son and two others coming in late night and trying to be quiet but not being. Did I mention we're having a fantastic time?!!!

8.17 THURSDAY I can't believe I got so behind! Today is actually the 21st. I let my electronics run out of juice and Steve's been on the computer every free chance keeping his clients quiet. So, I'll try to recap the last 5 days. There really haven't been any knock down drag out gigs. After the Town Pump, we headed down to Greenville, SC. Didn't want to impose on Woody by taking 4 showers so we asked a few locals where we might be able to grab a shower and headed off for a county park. We ended up having to pay for a campsite but got a much needed shower and headed into Greenville. We set up early, 4 pm, which really didn't seem necessary but I guess they wanted to have us set up before their customers started coming through the door. Greenville's an OK town. Seems a little corporate, like Wilmington, DE, lots of banks. It has a beautiful main street though with lots of big street trees and a few little gradenesque spaces in front of office buildings. Connolly's fed us, some of the best food we've had along the way. Unfortunately, the room really isn't condusive to music. The first set was cool. There were just people at all the tables and they weren't drunk and screaming, they were actually listening. Later, though, the place was packed with every table full and people crammed around the bar, but so many voices were bouncing off the walls, they were drowning out our music and the management was very clear about being too loud. We'd already gotten the "You're too loud" twice so we didn't bother to try to get over the voices again and since no one could hear us, no one really cared. Needless to say, we didn't sell any CDs that night but we did get a decent guarantee so that took out a little of the bite. It was still disappointing though. We all felt like the bar's recorded music was louder than we were playing and if we could've just turned up a bit and done our thing, people would've gotten it. Oh well. Someone on our first break did mention that she has a really hard time finding good music in Greenville. I don't know if that's true. There are a few big clubs there, but they'd be difficult to break into playing for the first time in town.

8.18 FRIDAY After our gig, we drove about 4.5 hours to a campground about an hour outside of Charleston, slept about 4 hours, showered and headed into Charleston for an in-store gig at Millenium Records to promote our shows in Charleston. Millenium has partnered with a few stores in town, and they had CDs, of course, but there's a cafe there that serves food and alcohol, and a stage that's accessible by a locked door and and 9 or 10 steps that has guitars and amps around. You sort of tower over people as you play. And they sell some books as well. Seems like they might actually stay in business. Anyway, we did an acoustic 6 song set, with Donnie set up on a small kit doing a great job of playing quiet and still playing cool stuff and Mark on the acoustic guitar. There weren't many people in the store and no one clapped except a few employees but Bruce showed up and we got to meet him finally. When Bruce asked us if we wanted to do this gig, he said there was no guarantee but if they liked the band, they'd give them some gift certificates. Turns out, the owner loved us, which doesn't usually happen, and we each got a gift certificate for $20, a t-shirt, a promise that if we come back, they'll really promote the in-store, that they'd work with the local radio station to get us some airplay, and we consigned 30 CDs with the understanding that we'd be in their listening booth at least until we came back to Charleston next Friday. We were all exhausted but appreciative. Mark and Donnie toodled around Charleston a little. Steve and I took care of the consignment and hung some posters around the college nearby to promote our show that night at Salty Mike's and our other 2 shows there on the following Tuesday (today, as I write this) and Friday. We got a hotel room just outside of town and crashed until it was time to play Salty Mikes. The place is located by the marina, in the basement of a seafood restaurant. The floors are concrete and the back opens right up onto a big deck on the water. Bruce warned me that at this gig, people would either be crazy and rowdy or they'd act like they didn't really care. We had a night somewhere in the middle. There wasn't a lot of clapping but I knew we were entertaining them because people were listening, tapping their feet and smiling, and a few people danced through the night. The place was about half full. Inbetween the frist and second set, Mark locked Donnie's keys in the truck and that caused a long break where we lost a good portion of the crowd, but I found out later that that's just the way that place is- people come and go, and considering it was August and school's not quite back in yet, people just didn't come in much. They night petered out but we sold two CDs, got a couple names on the mailing list, and a few promises that people'd come out to see us tonight, or send someone out. Turns out, people really dug it, and told the bartenders so throughout the night. Even one of the bartenders who supposedly doesn't like "our kind of music" said to the booking guy that he had to get us back. They eneded up paying us $50 more on top of guarantee and offered to pay us more next time if we time it right for them. Wednesday night is their big night there and bands have been able to build something up there fairly easily on Wednesdays and made $700 at the door. We grabbed a bite, went back to our hotel, went for a late night swim and slept soundly.

8.19 SATURDAY Drove about and hour and a half to Columbia. We played the Alley Cafe on Saturday with a quick run over to the University of South Carolina's radio station for an interview and a few songs right before the gig. The Alley Cafe was a cool room, a renovated warehouse, with brick walls, hardwood floors, and lots of neat artwork. We started off acoustic and people were listening, but when we switched over to a more electric format, it seemed like we lost the crowd. Another non-clapping crowd. Anyway, at the end of the night, the owner apologized that there weren't more people there (evern though every table was full for much of the night) and was delighted with our show. We sold one CD to a guy that heard us on the radio right before the show. Deborah asked us to come back and I definitely would. She runs a lesbian bar and I think we reached an audience there that we might not get playing other gigs in Columbia. We had a reasonable guarantee out of it and Deborah comped us our food and drinks (even though she doesn't usually comp drinks). It's those kinds of little things that are really making the trip so pleasant for me. People are so friendly and helpful and generous. Anyway, we went back to our crappy hotel room outside of Columba. The owner honered the coupon we picked up at the rest stop but made us stay in a smoking room. Mark ended up sleeping in Donnie's truck, the smell was so bad.

8.20 SUNDAY Sunday was our one full day off in two weeks and I wanted to spend it in the woods. We found a campsite about 45 minutes north of Augusta that was actually in SC. Chilled out all day, played banjo, read. Mark and Donnie went into Augusta to check things out.

8.21 MONDAY We stayed almost all day at the campsite. Don and Mark headed in early. Played the Metro in Augusta. The Metro is a coffehouse/bar, about 150 or 200. Steve Jackson, a travelling singer/songwriter himself, ran sound for us. About 20 people in the front listened and about 80 people in the back, drank and ignored us for the most part. I was glad for the 20 people. We played two short sets alternating with Steve and another guitar singer/songwriter. It was cool. Donnie played a small kit again. Apparently, we were the first band to ever play the singer/songwriter series there. We got two articles done on us in Augusta, one in the Augusta Chronicle (Steven Uhles actually called to interview me) and the Metropolitan Spirit by Don Fetter (?). We sold 5 CDs and made $100 plus $11 in tips. Not bad for original music, on a Monday night, in a city around 1000 miles away from Philly. I think we were all overwhelmed to be playing again. Everybody's in good spirits but there've definitely been a few grumpy moments on all our parts. We're switching off between camping and hotels depending on whether we're driving after the gig or need to do laundry or who needs some air conditioning. You can get more sleep camping since you don't have to check out at 11 or 12 (assumming you can find a shady spot to set up). Today we slept til 1pm at Santee up 95, but right now I'm writing from a Days Inn outside of Charleston. Our home base for the day, we'll sleep here tonight after our gig and head off to Savannah, GA tomorrow after check out.

8.21 TUESDAY We played the Charleston Chug. School's back in but people didn't really seem to know where the bar was even though it's right around the corner from Millenium Music and the College of Charleston. Steve and I flyered right before the gig. We ran down to Kinko's and made some flyers and walked around a few blocks and then played. The Chug is on the 2nd floor which was a drag for 20% of the bar on a Tuesday night, and it's really small, maybe an 80 person capacity, but there were a few people out that night and a table or two actually listened. The bar dug us and actually gave us $80 which was more than 20% of the bar. Donnie and Mark were bummed about playing the gig but it paid for most of our expenses that day so I thought it wasn't such a bad way to spend the night. We didn't sell any CDs.

8.22 WEDNESDAY We played JJ Cagney's in Savannah, GA last night. Very cool place. Nice big two height stage with a PA. Vince ran sound from behind the bar. We got two articles in the paper (from the interviews I mentioned earlier) and Creative Loafing ran a little paragraph or two and our photo. The bar was almost completely empty until we went on around 10:30. Then things started to pick up. Cagney's is a two sided bar with music on one side and pool tables and another bar on the other, so it easily could've been a drag if people didn't dig the music. The articles did bring some people out. Erin Rude, who did the article in Connect Savannah, was kind enough to come out for the first set and drop off a few copies of the newspaper. One guy gave us a $40 tip. There was dancing in the second set. We sold 2 CDs and we had a great time playing. I was exhausted yesterday, but am feeling better today.

8.23 THURSDAY I'm sitting in the restaurant that's our gig tonight, Mojo. We arrived early since we had to check out at noon. It was about 4.5 hour drive from Savannah to Charlotte. It was supposed to be an opening act for 11 foot 7 but when we got here, their posters were up for this Sat. and our posters were up with the "opening for 11ft7" scratched out. It was supposed to be a $50 guarantee and no guarantee of anything else but when we got here, Russ met us at the door, said how much everyone here liked the CD and that he was looking forward to the show. Turns out we've got a $100 guarantee, they're hooking us up with free food (which was excellent) and a case of domestic beer or half a case of imports, our choice. Everyone who works here is super kind. We got a star next to our name in the calendar of Creative Loafing (meaning that the paper thinks we're worth seeing) and they ran our photo. We'll see but I'm already happy with a little upgrade in hospitality. Turns out we ended up playing to three people. Two people stayed for a few songs and bought a CD. One person, Tommy, came out from seeing us in JamBase's calendar. He actually brought his recording equipment out. We played a second set just because he was recording and the staff sat down and hung out. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun and hopefully they'll be some decent music that Tommy'll be able to spread around. I, of course, didn't have the best playing night. We also met a guy named Fudd who MCs at a couple of big Jam Band festivals in the south. We gave him a few CDs to pass around and I'll be following up with another CD and press kit. He offered to let us open for his band the next time we come through Charlotte which would be a good way to start getting established. We did end up selling 4 CDs that night, one of the bartenders bought 2.

8.25 FRIDAY We drove the 4 hours or so back to Charleston to play the Pour House. It was a locals bar in a shopping center just a little outside of town. It was another low attendance night. Bruce came out and said, "Please tell me last night was better." Steve and I just shook our heads. There were maybe 15 people there and they clapped for each song. At first, I thought they were clapping to be nice, but a few songs into it, I remembered that people don't do that anywhere, and got a little confidence together. It was a hot bar with very little air conditioning. We were beat. We were down but we did the best we could. Of course, that night, I actually had a great playing night. We got paid our guarantee in full but the bar didn't make enough money that night to cash out the check for us.

8.26 SATURDAY Our last gig was at AJs in Jacksonville, FL. It was about a 5 hour drive. Turned out to be the best gig that Bruce booked for us because they actually helped us promote. The place is owned by Annie and Janie (thus AJs) and they were very excited about having a band "all the way from Philly". They made a big poster talking us up on the front door when you come in, they hung our posters, they played our CD quite a few times in the bar telling people when we'd be coming through, and she took one of the photos I sent her and sent it to the local entertainment weekly (which they ran with a little paragraph). They also charged $7 at the door. We have friends in Jacksonville, Frank and Nancy. I'm at their kitchen table finishing this up right now. Anyway, between them and their friends, the regulars at the bar and a few people that I think came out from JamBase.com, we had about 100 people out for us. The place actually turned out to be an alternative bar, meaning, for those of us that have lived in a cave before this trip, a lesbian bar. Some of the straight people there felt uncomfortable and left after the first set, but the whole staff made us feel completely welcome. It's one of those rare places to play where everyone really is welcome. They fed us and comped our drinks. They have kick ass lights. People were very receptive, although no one danced no matter what we did, we couldn't get them up on their feet. They'd dance on break, but oh well. We sold 4 CDs that night, 3 to people that work there. Janie and Annie were thrilled with the music and thrilled with the turn out. After the bar closed, they invited us to their drag show the next night. That was an offer I couldn't turn down. For two straight people to see a drag show as insiders instead of outsiders seemed too good to pass up. I was exhausted yesterday after a quick attempt at surfing and a nap on the beach and only a few hours sleep, so we made it out for the 2nd show. Turns out that everybody got so wasted the night before, none of the regulars came out Sunday night. There were a few songs, they ended early, and we headed out to the Freebird Cafe to see a local jam band. People from the Home Grown Music Network were there so we dropped off a few CDs just to get the word out. The HGMN is a distribution and promotion company that helps out bands with followings get their music to their fans. I'm not sure if they'll take us because our following's really spotty regionally but it's worth a try. The guy we talked to said he did see us on Jam Base. So, we're here chillin with our friends and Mark and Donnie actually left right after the gig to go home.

OVERVIEW It's Monday now. I slept til 11 am, went out for lunch, did the smallest amount of shopping and came back to the house to alternate between jumping in the pool and napping by it. I think between last night and this afternoon, I've slept 13 or 14 hours and I'm still tired. We played 13 gigs in 16 days. The Mapquest trip planner says that from door to door, we'd be driving 3300 miles and about 60 hours, but we drove more than that when you include getting back and forth to hotels and campgrounds. My favorite cities were Savannah, GA and Charleston, SC. The Outer Banks were awesome although hot as hell and buggy. I'd like to go back there sometime other than August. We were asked back to every place we played, and the only gig I wouldn't want to return to is Connolly's in Greenville, SC, mostly because the acoustics just aren't really right for a band. Having checked out so many places, I'd like to do follow up with a weekend at the Outer Banks, take 3 days off, then play Wednesday through Saturday at four of the places we played this time. The tough part is making enough money to keep people happy or finding people who don't mind coming down for nothing, doing openers and really getting things started. (That's not to say that Mark and Donnie weren't troopers about the whole thing, just that I think I might've come close to killing them and can't imagine that they'd want to do this with Steve and me again. As you can see, I mostly left personal relations out of this diary, but things did go easily, all things considered. I figured we'd all hate each other by the end of the trip, and we're all still on speaking terms. Part of that was having two vehicles. In the second week, we split up during the day and met at the gig every night. I'd like to state for the record that Donnie and Mark were there every night, right on the dot, when it was time to load in and never left us wondering where the hell they were. Thanks guys!) Even this trip, we made about $3500 (including guarantees, door deals, and CD sales) but by the time we paid for gas, hotels/campgrounds, meals, beer, tolls, and miscellany, I think we each walked away with about $250 or $300 each. We could've done it cheaper if it weren't so hot. The VW has two beds, and Steve and I offered to run the trip so someone only had to sleep on the ground once every third night, but air conditioning was in big demand on the trip so we only camped when we were getting in so late that we'd have to check out only a few hours after we checked in. (If you do a trip like this, camping or hotelling it, be prepared to lose a lot of sleep. We averaged 6 to 7 hours at night. Bring earplugs and you'll get more sleep.) We also could've prepared a few meals at the bus pretty easily, we have a stove and running water with a sink in there, but no one wanted to cook or clean when we were travelling so much. We didn't exactly shoestring it, but we also drove and played like maniacs and needed the level of comfort we had for sanity's sake. In terms of the reception we got, the people that were at the shows, although they might've been few, were anywhere from pretty to very appreciative. There doesn't seem to be what Steve calls "The Cool Factor" down here. That's to say, people make up their own mind about the music and whether or not it sounds good, not whether or not they'll be cool for coming to the show. The "Cool Factor" is also closely related to what I call the "Banjo Factor". You either love the banjo or you hate it. That's not everyone up North obviously, or we wouldn't have been able to develop anything anywhere, but just a generalization that seems to be true more often. People also clapped more for us throughout these gigs. Unfortunately, we didn't get a ton of names on our mailing list, so it could be difficult to justify another trip down here. People liked it, but not enough, it seems, to give us their address. Nonetheless, I'd give it another whirl in a few months, just because we made so many great contacts and I think the bars that we played would work a little harder with us to promote the shows now that they know we can deliver live what they heard on the CD. Finally, I just like to comment on the most important thing about the trip, the music. Whatever went on during the day, at night, I dropped it from my mind and just played. It was awesome. Our music went places it's never been before and might never go again. I learned a few tricks along the way and have become a better musician just by being completely immersed in it, like learning language in a foreign country. It was intense, it was fun. By the end of the trip, we had a acheived that perfect kind of loose tightness that I'd always hoped we could tap into. Not something sustainable, but there were some moments that were just over the top. Just the four of us feeling it. Thanks for taking an interest in our trip. If anybody out there has burning questions, suggestions, criticisms, etc., drop me an e-mail. I'm at maria@tenspiders.com. Peace!

PROLOGUE 9.10.01 Mark quit two nights ago before we started playing at the New City in Philly saying that he just couldn't afford to play with us anymore and demanding $75 per gig. I know he was warming up to this before we left, but I think the trip put some issues into focus for him and he decided it wasn't worth it for him to play with us anymore. We're planning our next trip for March hopefully, but only a week and two weekends this time. Steve and I are headed down to FL for a camping trip then anyway so it makes sense to play a few gigs on the way down. John, our regular drummer, says he wouldn't mind taking a week and following up and Pete Rhee, the fiddle player who sat in on our CD, was saying he wished he was going on the last one, so I'm hoping he'll go in March and we'll still have a quartet.

Check out photos from the trip or go back to the home page