July 4th, 2011
Welcome back to my blog, dear readers. I write this note in the backseat of a white van plastered with bumper stickers, a hand-crocheted flowered headband dangling from the rearview, wind whipping through the open windows since the air conditioning is broken, wide northwestern Missouri landscape sweeping by, and three friends and I quietly enjoying the folk tunes of Illalogical Spoon’s EP.
This is the beginning of a different kind of trip for me: touring with a band. Right now I’m sitting in the van with three friends, and three more new friends are taking a different car. I’ll introduce you to each of them, since you’ll be hearing a lot about them in the next few weeks.
First is Tyler. He’s the band leader, an Oregon guy who never settled down, the brains of the organization, banging out his anthem on a Sharpie-illustrated guitar. He is otherwise known as Reverend Dr. Folklore, and he’s the one who asked me out of the blue at a party if I wanted to play violin in his band. The next thing I knew, I was laying down tracks for the latest album and packing my bags for a month-long tour.
Adrienne is his newlywed wife, and has been my friend for several years now. Slender and always dressed like a gypsy, Adrienne sings back-up vox, throws candy at the audience, blow bubbles, occasionally juggles, and is the personal keeper of Wallace, our singing sheep puppet.
Amanda, Adrienne’s 17-year-old sister, is the sweet-smiling bassist. Even though she’s young, she’s very mature— I think if you average our two ages, that’s about how old she acts.
Ayden is the drummer, a skinny punk-looking kid who is coming with us as far as Oregon with his wife, Kourtney. Their friend Zach is also tagging along, juggling for our shows.
Put us all together, and you have a band, and now I’m on the road to the first venue of our tour, in Omaha. We just spent a week at the Cornerstone Music Festival in Illinois, but that deserves its own set of entries, which I will try to write tomorrow.
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| Amanda, Tyler, Josh (absent from the tour, sadly), Adrienne, and me in front |
I can’t imagine what this kind of travel is going to be like, but I’ll find out soon enough. Stay tuned for updates!
~Lisa Shafter
http://www.insomniacfolklore.com
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