GAC Flood Relief Telethon Already $1.5 Million

My nephew Cameron:

"Ummm... When it rains, are the clouds going to the bathroom?"

We celebrated a belated Mother's day with most of family today at my parents house in Columbia. It's like recharging your battery to spend time with family. I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm completely drained! But it feels so great to have spent a much-needed family day in Columbia. I've missed the last few Mother's Day's the last couple of years, and this year I got to actually spend Mother's Day with my mother-in-law one weekend and my own Mamma the next. AWESOME.

Tonight was the GAC Telethon to raise money for Nashville flood relief. I didn't get to watch due to our Mother's Day festivities (which just ended). BUT I've already read an incredible article that makes me so proud!!! The count is already at $1.5 Million and they'll have the final tallies by tomorrow morning.

The article comes from Forbes Online:
Stars Help Raise Over $1.5 Million For Tenn Flood Relief

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Maryville. All Rained Out :(

What a bummer!!!!! I was really excited to play in Tennessee today - it's so seldom we get to play this close to home. We arrived safely in Maryville around 6:30 this morning after a long overnight drive from South Bend. Grabbed a few hours sleep - just enough to rejuvenate and get all refreshed for a show!

We got to the school and this awesome singer songwriter - James Trimble - was playing an acoustic set. We unloaded all of our gear from the trailer (with LOTS of help from the students! THANK YOU!) got it to the stage... and then the dark clouds came a-rollin in.

After waiting a few minutes to see what would happen... we rolled all the heavy gear and amps back into the trailer and put the instruments close by under a roof. We headed in doors to wait out the rain. It got to the point where the radar looked like we were in the clear and the rain had stopped so we headed back outdoors. We unloaded the trailer again. Got everything onstage, started unpacking... and Guess what?! Even BIGGER drops started coming down.

We started packing up our gear and rolling is back to the trailer like a pit crew!

At this point the stage was all wet and there was just no way to set up electrical gear :( The inflatables all came down because the generators have to be shut off with the rain. Ughh. It was so sad. The students were SO sweet and helpful. Maryville College is on a gorgeous campus in Tennessee near Knoxville. BUT... no show. Oh well. Hopefully we'll get to go back sometime and ACTUALLY play.

They said they haven't had this event outside in 5 years. And this morning was gorgeous with a tiny chance of rain. BUMMER.

But the students ordered us food from this local restaurant called The Tomato Head. It was UNBELIEVABLE! I hope we get to go back sometime soon. One of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten! It was called the "Oh Boy!" And there were TONS of options for David, too. Normally he has to find whatever dish has the least meat and ask them to leave it out. But today he had as many or more options as the rest of us!

Now we are on I-40W headin home!!! We'll be there less than 24 hours, but hey! I'll take what I can get! We have just enough time to get some laundry done... drop off Miguel to welcome his newest child into the world, and pick up our sub guitar player for the next couple of weeks!

Yee HAW!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

GO! To Chipotle.

Another rainy Sunday, another 12 hour drive.

We spent the first part of the day getting the oil changed in the van... not supposed to be difficult, but the giant trailer we pull had to be dropped in order to make that happen. Again, not a problem, except the fact that the universal hitch lock bought for the trailer... well, isn't exactly universal. Our trailer may be one of the very few it doesn't fit, but it definitely didn't fit. James got it to stay on once... but we were able to pull it off. Not exactly what you want out of a lock.

But the guys had an excellent idea. We bought a cable lock, you know - used on bicycles, and locked the two wheels together. AHHH. It worked! And no one stole the trailer while we headed down to Chipotle! :)

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Chipotle is EXCELLENT. We recently stopped at a Moe's which I had never tried before.

Doesn't

Even

Compare.

Not even a little bit. The ingredients and the pure conscientiousness Chipotle (at least SEEMS to) possess makes it an incredible establishment. I feel healthier when I eat there. I just love it. And so does the whole band. Even David, who has a hard time on the road since he is a vegetarian. But we ALL love the Chipotle. :) I think you should go there. Right now. Seriously. I'll time you. 1, 2, 3, GO!

And with that, I bid you goodnight.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Mt. St. Mary's University.... Older Than Chile

Seriously... it was founded in 1808 and Miguel said they are celebrating the Bicentennial this year in Chile!

Mt. Saint Mary's has a gorgeous campus, located atop a beautiful hill... and it is the oldest independent Catholic college in the U.S. Their spring fling had to be moved indoors today because of rain... but it was no less exciting! Inside the cafeteria, they had a big ole stage for us, mechanical bull, flavored oxygen, old timey pics.. it was awesome!

We were really happy to arrive this morning. We arrived at the hotel around 11:30am after driving all night long. James and I make such a good driving team. We each took a couple shifts and managed to get enough rest while the other was driving to take over again after a few hours. It ended up being about 13 hours total.

The show was awesome - the students were all right up at the front of the stage and I sold OUT of my first cd! We have more ordered, but tonight the last of the most recent batch was sold. Always a good feeling :)





Signing the headphones!


The school is located really close to Camp David - The President's Retreat. We're on Season 4 of the West Wing on DVD in the Van right now, so that was really cool to find out!

It's time for some relaxing with the guys... bed time later is gonna be amazing.

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Chee Was At The White House, Too!

What a small world it is.

We loaded in for our soundcheck at North Georgia College and State University today. We were working with the nicest and most awesome sound guys. TRUE Productions AV services. After we got all set up and soundchecked, Chee, the chief, came up to me and said "I just figured out where I know you from. You were at the White House Corespondent's Dinner a couple of years ago, right? I provided the sound for you there!"

NO WAY!!!! I couldn't believe it! I didn't actually meet him there. They needed some extra microphones that day, and he was the one they called. How cool is that? I really thought that was awesome.


The event was so much fun!!! They had inflatable... well.... everything! Inflatable boxing ring with oversized gloves and helmets, slides, obstacle courses, bungee races, and even a "stay on the surfboard" inflatable. Kind of like a mechanical bull... only you have to stand on a surfboard. It was pouring down rain outside. So they had to move the event inside. Everyone kept apologizing because the event has a much larger turn out when it is held outside. But I would have never known. The entire gym was packed the whole time.

Ohio Avenue opened the show for us - they are an awesome rock band traveling the country, touring independently, just like us.
They also just got a new trailer :) Almost exactly the same as ours. We were all exchanging ideas the whole time. They actually played at KSU earlier in the day... we played KSU Day a couple years ago and we had the green pollen stuck in the crevices of our gear to prove it for over a year after the show!!!

I took lots of great pics, but I can't seem to get enough internet on this overnight drive in the car on the way to North Carolina to upload anymore pictures. But check the facebook page, and I will have them all up as soon as I can get to a strong enough signal! :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Surprised Kitty

Even though I am SURE he's already seen it...

I dedicate this video to my 2009 Peace Love Fiddle Commenter of the year: Natalie's Favorite Farm Boy Fan



It never gets old :)

Speaking of things never getting old.... My sweet puppy hates being cold and/or wet. She's a little Miss Priss. So she will leave one foot off the ground and hop on the other three if the grass is wet or snowy... as if that actually does anything or keep her from getting any less wet. Even so... it makes me smile every time :)

She spent the day playing with her awesome Christmas hedge hog that makes grunting noises. Love it.
Santa has to hunt these days to find an animal she doesn't already have. Poor little deprived puppy dog.

THERE'S STILL SNOW ON THE GROUND!!!!! Which equals complete happiness from this chick. :)

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Hung Out With Barney Fife and Played With The Drifters

Well...

We got completely rained out for the first 2 shows today. It was so disappointing. We got to the fair grounds around 10:30am and sat and sat and sat... in soaking wet clothes... until 5pm. We left to go put on some dry clothes at that point and came back for our 8:00 show. But since we hadn't had any way to set up yet, we were having to set up quickly on the fly, and get a sound check all at the same time. Our set was supposed to be from 8-8:30. (The final set is a quick one) Our poor sound guy, Leon, who we love, was running around like crazy. There just wasn't enough time.

At about 8:20 he was close to having the sound set up. It is so stressful for EVERYONE involved to be trying to get the sound right and just standing on stage not being able to do anything with an audience present. SUCKS. But Leon got things done very quickly and we just played late tonight. It was a bit of a rough show. I think we were all off-kilter for, well, the number of reasons I have already mentioned. Plus, it started "misting" (the best way I can describe it) during the last part of the show. The Drifters were on the stage across the way... so our sound was competing with one another. Does it count for me to say I've played "with the Drifters" now on my resume? I was playing an original while they were playing "Under The Boardwalk" :)

I DID get to hang out with "Barney Fife" during a lot of the day. He actually asked us to go out to the bar with him tonight... but we are all spent and gonna have to hang another night. (He's already been here for 5 days!) He was awesome. He and Gomer drive around in their crazy Mayberry police car all day.


Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

The Chileans Are Coming!!!

Dorky fact about me right now:
We played the University of Akron in Ohio yesterday, and we played this same event last year for them. Last night I wore my event t-shirt from yesterday. Tonight I unintentionally am wearing the t-shirt from this event LAST year.

At our show yesterday, I learned that the flowers in my hair are NOT a good idea when bees are looming! Even though they are fake... they seemed to attract the buzzy little creatures :) I mean, they were hanging around everyone and buzzing around the stage quite a bit, but they definitely liked my hair region... Although.... that's quite a LARGE region... it is kind of hard to miss...

Last year we had to drive OVERNIGHT from a show in Chicago. So this year, the flight and a half of stairs to load up was not NEARLY as daunting as it had seemed last year! :)

However... the rain seemed to follow us yet again to an outdoor event. :( We had a covered stage, so the rain wasn't an issue for us per say, but the poor audience was just getting soaked. I had to call a song that Chris could sing, actually because my cds and t-shirts were getting drenched. I ran and grabbed everything and threw it under the tent for safe-keeping.

Mark and Janice are some of our good friends that have just been incredibly supportive over the years. YOU KNOW they are supportive when they sit under umbrellas for half your show just to watch you play! Thanks, Mark for selling that cd and t-shirt for me ;)


We had some of the most wonderful and inspiring group show up for this show. Viola, was one of them. It was her birthday, and I first saw her burst out from behind the line of students waiting for t-shirts. She was very excitedly running toward the stage because she heard music. It wouldn't have mattered who or what type of music was playing. She began to dance with the most beautiful smile on her face. And she didn't stop until her class had to leave! Happy Birthday Viola! I am so glad you and your friends had such a good time! (Thanks for the pic, Mark!)


Our awesome sound crew - Greg and Tony! They were our sound guys last year, too. :) And they quized me on what my name means. Whew. Good thing I knew! "Born on Christmas Day" (But I wasn't)


We've had a car-full of Chileans following us for a week now!!! Miguel's Dad, 2 of his brothers, and his Dad's wife are all visiting from Chile. And they are getting a FULL experience of life on the road! They came to the Rathskeller in Indy, then took a road trip to Chicago, came to our shows in PA and OH, and now they are headed to Nebraska for a wedding! Ella is going to be a flower girl this weekend :)


Love this life on the road. And happy to be home with my puppy for a few days. We have FIVE DAYS OFF!!! MOST in a LOOOONG time!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Dancin In The Georgia Rain

Wanna know why I think the kids at Armstrong Atlantic State University are the coolest?

When it started raining today, they didn't all run and hide under covers (well, some did) but instead? They ran out and started dancing IN the rain to our music!!! It was so awesome, and only made the show even more memorable.

The way the stage was set up, we were under a covered area, but our speakers were out front. And the members of the Campus Union Board that were sponsoring the event, ran to our rescue!!! We were in the middle of "Even Alaska" so, they just took the speakers off the stands and set them up on stage with us! It was perfect!

Thanks for the photo Shaun! (I stole it off of facebook just now :) )


CUB :) Thank you for everything! Especially the golf cart rides :)


The Pike Boys were grilling hot dogs for Rush, right across from the stage. It smelled SOOOOOO good! :) Thanks for the free smells, guys.


Ummm... definitely my first "Human Anatomy and Physiology Book" signing!


CUB had me sign this poster that had been written on before the show :) They presented it to Josh DURING the show. He was so embarrassed, but it was pretty awesome.


Zerik - one of my favorite dancers from the day!


I have the rest of the pics up on facebook. For now? I'm going to bed!

Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

Ashland Band Shell

After an odd, but good night's sleep, the guys and I went exploring in Ashland Ohio. They have one of the more impressive gas station/ food marts I've ever seen! Starbucks, Popeyes, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and eh emm... a "Sweet Counter" : )

We discovered even more mattresses in the parking lot in the daylight. :) This place is hilarious.

The Ashland Band Shell we played today was REALLY cool. It's their 60-year anniversary and there were pics in the hallways of the Glen Miller Orchestra playing there. So many people from the community came out tonight. It was a gorgeous night for a concert in Ashland and the rain held off until after we finished packing up!

Millie and I made friends immediately! She hung out with me before and after the show. Sweet puppy. There were so many awesome dogs at the show, and I wanted to run off stage and hug them all during the show. But I didn't...


She saw us at APCA in Atlanta and then came to see us here in Ohio!


These two were walking by right after we finished sound check. Apparently, we didn't scare them off!!! They were still here 3 1/2 hours later after the show!


More awesome people!

Holding On With Dear Life

Today we simultaneously did something very stupid and very necessary. And there wasn't even really a choice in the matter.

About 20 minutes before we were supposed to take the stage, the city manager, the guy who hired us and one of the coordinators of the event came to me in a bit of a panic. We looked to the North and could see ominous black clouds rolling in. There were talks of hail and the storm was coming QUICK. They wanted to know what I wanted to do. I REALLY didn't want to cancel completely. But I wanted to let them make the call. There were already lots of people in lawn chairs with coolers, plus all the vendors who had set up for our concert.

We decided to just move all the gear as close to the inside of the tent as we could and wait it out a little bit. HAHA!! That was funny.

People started bringing in tarps and we began covering everything up. There were 5 other people helping us out. As we were covering the gear and amps and such, the rain started POURING. Thunder and lightening was all around us. We all were working as quickly as possible, but in the blink of an eye, we were all holding onto the tent with dear life to keep it from blowing off the stage. If it had blown off, everything would have been ruined. And I kept seeing images of the tent hitting someone in the face... James, Tim, and I were all holding onto the same center piece and it was STILL lifting completely off the ground even though we were holding on with all our might.

The stupid part? The rods of the tent were metal. Every time the lightening would strike, we'd all quickly let go, but have to grab on again immediately to keep it from ripping off the stage. The bridge in the middle of the tent was bursting at the seems with water and every now and then a waterfall would pour down and soak us even more. I was shivering because I was COMPLETELY soaked from head to toe.

It was a terrible day to wear a white shirt.


Once the rain let up for just a bit, Tim uploaded this pic to facebook:


I love technology... he uploads a picture while we're still in the middle of the storm.

Here's us once the rain stopped...


And here's what the stage looked like.


The entire stage was a pool... my amp had water in it, and James' drums were covered with water. But everything turned out fine. I haven't tried to turn my amp on, but they let us use a hotel room to change out of our soaked clothes. And I used my hair drier to rid my pretty little Marshall of all unwanted water.



I kept saying prayers while we were out there. Once it all started, there was no time to think. It would have been really hard to get away without getting hurt by debris. I heard reports that a lady died just a mile or two up the road from us. And one of the guys with the concert was in shock afterwards. 2 Oak trees had fallen on his house and car while his wife and 4 kids were in the house! But they were all ok. So thank goodness we were all ok. It was quite a way to wait out a storm. I prefer not to get caught like that ever again. It was awful.

Whew. Now we're getting a head start on our drive to Maryland. Hopefully we'll get to at least play our shows there!

Hope everyone is staying safe!
Peace. Love. Fiddle.
~natalie

RIBFEST highlights

RIbfest was AMAZING!!!!!! I wrote a huge blog in the car on my phone during our ridiculously long overnight drive from St. Petersburg to Nashville last night.... But it vanished! It never sent and it never showed up as a draft or anything :(

But it's all good! I'll just write a new one now!

It is really messing with my head right now that ummm... just last night I played a show at Ribfest. And I have already played a show in Nashville tonight. Weird. Not much sleep has been involved in the last week. But Lord, it is worth it! 

Here's some of the highlights from Ribfest this weekend.

During our show Friday night we could see the spaceship that launched. We had just finished "Whatever It Takes" when Hootie said - LOOK! There it is! And you could see the big trail of fire from the back of the rocket. CRAZY!

Saturday, we played a show to about 6,000 people as one of the opening acts for the Doobie Brothers!!!!

If you count the National Anthem as  "opening" *wink wink* (just roll with me here....) then technically you could say that this weekend I "opened" for Styx, the Doobie Brothers, and Asia. : )-

It started raining during our rock medley and "Devil Went Down To Georgia" a the end of our set on the main stage and the audience didn't leave!!!!!! It was awesome because looking out into the sea of people - they weren't scattering outward like you would expect, they just went vertical!!! Umbrellas, chairs, anything to put over their heads. But they all stayed! It was pretty much the most epic end to a show I have ever played.

One guy kept screaming "Natalie Stovall - better than CORN DOGS!!!!!" during my show on Sunday.

Jenn and Ella got to come on the road with us for the first time this weekend!!! (Jenn and Ella are Miguel's girls if you didn't know!) They even made it on the big screen a few times from out in the audience during our set!!!

Backstage, I had my own RV with my name on it again this year to hang out in and it was stocked with drinks and snacks. (that makes me feel really cool)

One little girl said "Now that I have seen you play 2 years in a row you knocked Kelly Clarkson our of my top 3 list. It is now: 

1. Natalie Stovall 2. Taylor Swift 3. Carrie Underwood". 

Can you imagine how amazing that feels!?!?!? Yeah, that little girl is my BFF now. :)

Right before my show started on Sunday, I saw 2 awesome, yet very unexpected things. 1. A DOLPHIN!!!!!! It was RIGHT next to the stage in the water. 2. The lady from "I Dream of Genie"!!!! How cool is that? She's still gorgeous.

We had the most incredible food all weekend!!!! Ribs, chicken, pulled pork.... and ohhhh that cornbread.

I dedicated the show on Saturday to Mr. Billy Brooks. He's a veteran from the Vietnam War who has been battling cancer for the last 3 years due to his exposure to Agent Orange. He is truly an inspiration. And I was so happy he was able to come out to the show. As I was talking to Mr. Brooks afterwards,  another veteran came up to the tent. He shared some very emotional stories ad thanked me for my show and for recognizing our soldiers and veterans. He gave me a dog tag with an American flag on it as his thank you. He thanked ME. How crazy is that? A man who risked his life to serve this country thanking me for simply doing what I love to do. Wow. Yeah. Amazing.

And ALL of this was for an incredible cause!!!! Every person working at Ribfest is a volunteer from the Northeast Exchange Club in St. Petersburg. This year there were records set each day for attendance. I can't wait to see the results of how much money was raised!!! They donate the money to many wonderful children's charities, and last year, they donated over $1,000,000 to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. I am so honored to have been asked to be a part of this event again this year. Everyone all weekend was incredibly gracious and hospitable! It was such a memorable weekend! THANKS RIBFEST!!!! Hootie, Miguel, James, Jenn, Ella, and I love you guys!!!!!

peace, love, fiddle

(please let it send this time)

My view from stage

I know it's dark and hard to see but this is my view from stage. Solid
sea of people. Amazing.