Waynesburg University Times Two

Last night we played a show at Waynesbyrg University in Waynesburg, PA. It was a bit creepy driving into Waynesburg. ALLLL these memories started flooding back out of nowhere. We played at Waynesburg U on Oct 11 of 2007. I remember because it was James' birthday. And it was the final trip in Cowboy Troy (Our first Suburban). We played the show, and everything was great. But the next morning, we woke up and The burb would NOT start. Not really a surprise. That car AWAYS had something wrong with it.

Awful break-downs are pretty much the longest and worst "initiation" into being a musician. Just like a fraternity - you aren't really and truly "in the club" until you breakdown.... and breakdown... and breakdown again... and... ok, you get the picture.

Car wouldn't start, and the guy at the Super 8 refused to give a jump. He had a new car and was worried jumping OUR car would mess with his GPS system. Ummm. NO. Not possible. But fine. (And he wasn't very nice about this either. I wouldn't have been frustrated if he hadn't have been so rude). There was a muffler place up the road, and one of the guys brought his truck down. We just needed to make it to the Auto Zone down the road to get them to install a new battery.

Got the jump, got the brand new battery and we were on our way to Philly. (We were supposed to impress a middling agent at a new club in Philly)

But guess what? On our way? We broke down.. AGAIN... on the PA turnpike.

This time? It was the LAST time. I can't tell you how many times that first truck left us stranded. But this was the first time it ended up costing us a show. We had to cancel, and that agent we were supposed to impress? Yeah. He doesn't work with us now.

There was NOTHING we could do, though. We were hours from the club. We had the Burb and trailer towed to a shop, and they thought they could fix it at first.... but as the hours passed, they realized it was the ENTIRE ENGINE that needed replacing. (We had JUST replaced the transmission a month prior). We ended up having to leave the Suburban in that parking lot for a long time.

I rented a car and got the band home. James stayed, and our best friend in the world, Ben, drove James' Explorer through the night to PA to tow our trailer back. We bought the second Suburban to get us back on the road. And on our first trip in the new (and MUCH improved) Suburban we PASSED the old one and waved to it from the interstate. And eventually, my dad bought a pick-up truck, got a gooseneck hitch installed, and brought Cowboy Troy back to Columbia where he now resides. He is completely fixed now... of course. We took it to our guy in town (Keith Throneberry - THE BEST), and though it didn't need a new engine, it did need some major repairs.

So yeah. ALL THAT came rushing back when we got here! Luckily, we were staying at a different hotel, so we didn't have to deal with the grumpy guys at the Super 8. :)

Now for this year's WU show:
I am happy to report that we safely made it to our show today after playing in Waynesburg!!! The WU show was in a different venue than last time. They have a really cool auditorium, but it was already booked. So they put us in a church-like room. No reverb needed last night!!! James actually didn't even set up his whole kit. The room was SO loud and echo-y that we all had to turn down and play a softer show.

It was a small but attentive audience! :) Today was actually the last day of classes for WU. The school was so awesome and trying to give the students a "break" from studying by putting on a concert the night before the final day of classes. But if these students are anything like I was in college - they were all in their dorms frantically finishing up all their last-minute projects and papers!!! :) But it was really cool. It ended up being like a private concert for 15 or so students! That's what is so great about this tour - one night the stage is so big I can't see the audience through the lights. And the next night it is such an intimate setting that we get to have conversations with each person in the room during the show. It really keeps you on your toes. And it spices everything up. I LOVE that.

These 2 ran our sound. It reminded me of "That Thing You Do" when they record the album in the church :) I love that movie!!


This guy was amazing! He was so attentive that even if he had been the ONLY person there, the show would have been well worth it. He is one of those audience members that you wish for as a performer. He MADE the night for me.


I realized when I got back to the hotel room that I had 2 different sized hoop earrings on. Shhh.... don't tell anyone, please.

One of my keyboard players from a few years ago came to the show, too. Jason played in the band for a while, and he now lives back in PA about an hour from Waynesburg. He came to the show and then we all hung out afterwards. We traded "breakdown" and "Whiskey River" stories. A band he was in for a long time played some of the same clubs we have played including Whiskey River in Macon Georgia. Oh the stories that have come from Whiskey River :) I could probably write a whole book from our experiences at that ONE club. :)


Thanks for having us back, Waynesburg! I feel like we're all good friends after that intimate show!
Oh, and today was incredible. I'll tell you ALLL about it tomorrow. :) Hope you had a great day!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

University of Wisonsin, Parkside Arts Alive!

Tonight we played at the University of Wisconsin, Parkside. We played in a gorgeous theater as a part of the Arts Alive! Series. They really did a fantastic job putting on the show. I am so disappointed I didn't get any photos of the theater to share with you. I have been searching online to try to find some, but no dice...

The stage came right up to the front row, and the bottom level sat 500 people, which was packed out. It still had this very intimate feel even though it held a lot of people. The stage itself reminded me of the "Austin City Limits" Stage. We played 2, 45 minute sets, which was fun because it was just a bit different than our last few shows. Lately they have all been 1, 60-75 minute set. It's always fun to have a little change in there! I was worried about being too loud because they told us that they were trying something new with us. This crowd isn't accustomed to "loud" music. :) (It's funny to me that... little country girl is considered "loud music" but Lord knows.... we love to cut loose when you give us the chance.) We had our amps turned down, and even put a road case in front of Miguel's guitar amp so that it would stifle the stage volume that bleeds out into the crowd. That just gives the Front of House sound man a little more control over how loud everything is out in the audience.

The crazy thing is that, even with all of that, we still had a few people that were holding their ears during the first set. I get so stressed and worried looking out and seeing that. It makes it so hard to play. I don't want anyone hurting!!!! And all I can focus on are the poor people holding their ears. But of course, at the same time, I don't want to lessen the show for the other 496 people that DON'T think it is too loud. So I made some adjustments on the fly to the first set... (God Bless the guys for always just following me!) made sure we skipped anything that was a little on the louder side... and it all worked out!

The sound guys, the band and I all had a little pow-wow during intermission. They brought the sound down in the house and we tried to be even more conscious of our own levels on stage. And the show didn't suffer a bit! We were still able to play everything we had planned on and the young 'uns AND the not-so-young 'uns ALL had a great time!!!

You know, all the craziness and unpredictability... that is the beauty of live shows. AND the beauty of playing such a wide variety of venues and events. Tonight was a LOT different from a bar set. I was able to take my time and tell the stories of each song. This theater and the stage set-up really lent itself to allow me to have more of a dialogue with the audience. I LOVE being able to do that.

Tonight was a really big night for the band, too. Last year in Feb, we were heading to Wisconsin when we got hit on the interstate.... we never made it... So to make it tonight, and actually play the show... well, that was a big deal!!!

As we were loading in - we saw 5 deer just hanging out on campus!!! It was so beautiful!



These 3 guys were JAMMING OUT in the front row right in front of Miguel the WHOLE night. It was awesome :)

I like Zombie-Hoot in this picture. :)

The boy on the left? He's a cello player. His sister? She plays the violin. :) They both take Suzuki lessons which is how I started!!
How fun to have a sibling to play with!


Happy Anniversary!!! :) Shhh... don't tell Ramon, but he is getting a cd!!!


DATE NIGHT!!! First night out alone without the kids. :) They have a 6 month old and a 22 month old. PHWEW!!!! Yeah, I'd say they were definitely in need of a night out!!!!


LOOK at that cute little guy on her backpack!!! I LOVE him! :)


Emily just got cast in the Music Man!!! YAY!!! Congrats sweet girl! And she still had homework she had to go home and do after my show (it was about 9:45 at picture time). The life of an artist!!! Brings back memories...


I have to say a HUGE thank you to our sound guys again. One of our easiest sound checks ever. John, you have got to be one of the nicest and most accommodating sound men in the world. You're so fun to work with! And thanks is GREATLY due to Dwight who REALLY took care of us tonight. Thank you for the chicken parm, bringing us to Wisconsin, unbelievable amounts of kindness, and even escorting us to our hotel! (since Jeeves failed miserably tonight at that one) For anyone who is confused - Jeeves is our GPS unit - he has a British accent, so he is our "Jeeves".


And can I just say? Thanks for reading! Hope to see all the Indy folks out at the Rathskeller tomorrow night! WOO HOO!

Peace, Love, Fiddle

Driving to Vermont

Today we have driven and driven and driven....

We had a minor detour when our GPS, Jeeves, (we have it set to the British voice) decided to try to route us through Canada AGAIN!!!! We had agreed on a route at the start of the trip, and for some odd reason, without notifying us, he decided to change our route to take us OUT OF THE COUNTRY. Why in the heck would a GPS that asks you if you want to take toll roads or not.... NOT ASK YOU IF YOU WANT TO CROSS INTERNATIONAL BORDERS!?!?! Plus, it was going to ADD hours onto the trip. So strange. Luckily, James noticed that we were a little too far north in Michigan than actually made sense. And we got back on track and only lost an hour and a half or two.

So we are still driving. We are going to stop in a little while around 3:30am or so. That way, we'll only have 6-7 hours left tomorrow.

Maybe on our way out of Vermont we'll have time to stop at the Ben and Jerry's factory. That would be yummy. And one of the best things ever.