Seth's Road Journal...

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05:13 p.m.
FLAGSTAFF, AZ -- Thursday, December 18th; Well, I'm almost done...here in the home stretch. I'm in Flagstaff tonight, doing a show with Justin Simison before we take off back across the country for the holidays. We'll hit Amarillo, Wichita, and Indianapolis before he drops me in Buffalo for a couple weeks. It's gonna be good, because these past few weeks have been stunningly chaotic... Almost two weeks ago I was almost to Albuquerque, in the RV of Robert Gilmer, along with Sol'Jibe, Kate Cotter, a non-housebroken puppy, and a cat that was constantly trying to escape captivity. Rodney still showed up for the Albuquerque show, but that was his last appearance on the tour... (as it turns out, he and Erin have beaten the flu, and are finishing out their remaining tour dates up in Colorado and Kansas.) The 'Burque show was stellar; one of the highlights of the tour; we had nearly 350 people in Kelly's, and everyone played well and had a good time. Rodney dropping off left a few gigs in limbo, though. We showed up in Flagstaff and Tucson with no Rodney and three opening acts that hadn't been announced... Flagstaff happened, and a good time was had. Tucson didn't, and I am STILL embarrassed about the way that went down. Tucson folks, PLEASE understand that I was caught up in the middle of a communication breakdown between other parties. Left to my own devices, that has never happened, and I intend to never let it happen again. I had to greet people as they were entering Plush to tell them that though I was standing right there, there would be no show that night. Then I had to leave. Not a good place to be, let me tell you.... :( I shall continue with more of my hapless story shortly... but happy holidays to all, wherever you are and whatever you celebrate! I'll see you soon... --Seth

01:36 a.m.
Friday, December 5th, 2003 - ALMOST TO ALBUQUERQUE -- Well then…. Some changes have been taking place this past week. I am currently traveling not in the Branigan’s Sprinter as before, but in the Excursion/22 ft. trailer combo of Robert Gilmer, along with Tim and Milton of Sol’Jibe, and Kate Cotter. It seems that somewhere this past week, Rodney picked up the serious flu-bug that’s sweeping over Texas, and he is sicker’n a dog. Actually… he’s quite sicker than the dog; he’s battling a 102.5 degree fever, while Asta only has the sniffles. He played our shows in College Station and San Marcos in fine form though… only difference is that he’s laying off the really high notes. All in all, I’m floored by his stamina, and we all hope he feels better soon. We have a day off today as we travel across Texas into New Mexico for tomorrow’s show in Albuquerque, and hopefully that’ll be enough rest for the man. Last week in Amarillo was great though. We all hung out and celebrated Thanksgiving with Rodney’s family, stuffed ourselves silly on multiple occasions, and I had the chance to hole up for a few afternoons in Rodney’s new studio with Mr. Gilmer and do some more work on the album-in-progress. I think I can comfortable say that five songs are done and awaiting mixdown, and the others are getting close. People have been asking about the new material, and whether I plan on playing all of it before the album comes out… the answer is probably NOT. “Understatement” has been in the set almost every night this tour, and the feedback for that song continues to be fantastic; it looks like everyone feels like that’s a tune that could do some good next year. Earlier this fall I was playing around with a new song called “Dark”, looking for a live arrangement I felt good about, but everyone’s set time has been shortened because there are so many of us performing each night, and I’ve been playing to a lot of new faces, so most of my sets have been filled with the tried-and-true favorites. “Pretending To Heal” is still alive and well, as is “Ripening Time”(which still shows its mischievous face whenever my head voice is feeling spunky); it’s just going to be a bit before they sit standardly beside tunes like “Eventually” and “Tarot”. There are also a few tunes that haven’t been played in front of any audiences at all, really, but the feedback from the recordings has been great, so I’m saving some of that for shows next year. Not only does it give y’all something to look forward to, but I can’t wait to inject all these songs into the set either! The newest song I did in Amarillo is called “…Catch.” It definitely fits the theme of the tunes that seems to be pervading the upcoming record, and I think it’s a good one. I’d love to upload a demo version to the site so y’all can check it out, but it seems MP3.com just went the way of the Dodo, and NONE of my MP3’s are active any more. Add one more thing to the list of stuff that needs to be handled when the website gets a serious facelift in the new year… But I digress… notable recent happenings include getting to jam a bit with Susan Gibson, who’s best known perhaps as the Grammy-winning songwriter of the Dixie Chicks’ hit, “Wide Open Spaces”. She did the Amarillo show with us, and the night before she came over to Rodney’s and we all had a whiskey-influenced song circle. Yee HAW. J A few days ago we played in College Station, Texas at A & M Consolidated High School… it seems they’ve been really gung-ho about Rodney for quite some time now, and the show was a benefit concert for the school’s theater department. The students were supercool, and made us feel great about the show. There was a bit of a snafu… it seems the responsibility of promoting the concert via television and print ads in local papers had been shifted… to nobody in particular, and the expected turnout of roughly 400 people missed its mark by about… 350 or so. We still had a good time though, due in no small part to the incredible energy and VOLUME of the people that did come. Y’all were so loud I thought I was listening to a thousand of you! J I also did something I haven’t experienced in maybe six years or so… not since I was in a rap band… I actually offended a couple people and made them leave. I had no idea this was happening, mind you. I was told later it was because I made references to drugs on stage, but the only references I made were very clearly ANTI-drug. I get the feeling it was because folks in some parts of the country get upset about having certain things mentioned AT ALL, regardless of how they’re portrayed. Tim, frontman for Sol’Jibe, seemed to think it was because of something I yelled to the crowd after I did “Something Pretty”… In response to the ensuing screams, I said, “There you go! That’s how we determine who gets the love… whoever screams the loudest!” Apparently some people thought I wasn’t talking about applause. If that’s the case, some people need to lighten up. Texas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys. ………..UPCOMING! As I mentioned, later today (Friday) we’ll be in Albuquerque, and I’m excited about it for many reasons: I can’t wait for everyone to see Kate, Robert, and Sol’Jibe, I can’t wait to eat the green chile, and I can’t wait to redeem myself for my performance at Kelly’s last year, when I had absolutely NO voice, and lent new meaning to the word “hideous” with my performance. Saturday sees my return to Flagstaff, where Rodney, Justin Simison and I will play the Campus Coffee Bean, and Sunday finds us all back south again, in Tucson, for what looks like it will be an amazingly badass gig at Plush. Excitement on the horizon, y’all… see you soon…. –Seth :]

07:18 p.m.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21st -- LAKEWOOD, CO; First, an update for everyone on the state of the record industry: “Notwithstanding” is absolutely available nationwide now! If you have a Tower Records store in your city, there is a 95% chance they are carrying the album. If you have a Virgin Megastore near you, there’s about a 60% chance they’ve got it. Borders is still lagging, at about 30%, but Hastings finally caught up, and each store in the chain should have at least a copy or two on hand. The best place to check is your friendly local independent record store; if you’re one of the Cool Kids who likes underground music, you probably already know where your local indie store is, but if you don’t, ask around... they’re usually the secret treasure of every community, especially in college towns, and they have always been the first to carry records like mine even when the big chains wouldn’t. Support them if you can! :) Now on to our report: ahem.... It’s snowing. Shiiiiiiiiiiit. Up ‘till now, this band-of-gypsies-style touring has been fantastic, but now there’s concern about the RVs handling the white stuff, especially up here in the mountains. Because we made it up here just fine, but now... we have to get DOWN. The recap of the past couple weeks is as follows... Rodney and I finished out our dual-bill college shows with a bang. Loyola College was fun, and the University of Virginia was nothing short of stella. One thing about each night was bothersome, and I’ll touch on this briefly before expounding more about the joy... what is the deal with schools taking a cut of our money? See, colleges HIRE us to come play. That means they WANT our entertainment, so they PAY us for it. But the moment we try to sell our merchandise to the people who enjoy what we do, suddenly there’s a “standard policy” stating that we need to give 10% of what we sell back to the school. What?? Like they get a rebate on us if we’re successful? That is f**king communism, and I don ‘t intend to stand for it in the future. Seriously. Okay; I’m done venting. The remainder of this update is happy thoughts. After our college shows, we took a few restful days off in Nashville, where Rodney and I ended up bringing our own whiskey into an open mic so we would only have to buy colas from the bar. Open mics in Nashville go on FOREVVVVER, so this was a good plan. We played a cool room called the Boardwalk Cafe, and I think I’m actually going to start playing SHOWS there now! Three years of doing this, and I might finally start gigging in one of the biggest songwriting towns in the country... hoo ha. After Nashville, we made it just outside of St. Louis to Belleville, IL for our first show at D.S. Vespers with EVERYONE. “Everyone” includes Kate Cotter, Robert Gilmer, the duo Sol’Jibe, Rodney, and myself. We celebrated our first night together by engaging in a form of revelry offered by the establishment: they have the country’s second-largest LASER TAG arena. Oh yeah. Good times had by all. Oh, and we also played to a hundred-fifty of Rodney’s closest friends. Crazy. Next up, we played the Billy Goat Tavern in St. Louis, and it already felt like we’d been on the road together for a week. In a good way, I mean. One small snafu; some thugs tried to steal the propane tanks off of Robert’s RV with a hacksaw. They didn’t get them off, but it wasn’t comforting... Then we hit Kansas City, and for the only time on this whole tour, Rodney wasn’t present... he had to fly out to California for a special show he’d been hired for, so he and Erin went for one night and flew back in the next day, leaving Kate, Robert, Sol’Jibe, and me to play the Planet Cafe by ourselves. We knew NOBODY in that town; I’d played it only once before with Rodney, and nobody else had ever been there, so we just crossed our fingers and hoped some people showed up. It turned out great; we had a lot of people coming through all evening, and we all played a bunch and made some new friends. We also took turns watching the RV for vandals... Kansas. I’ve been pretty hard on Kansas in the past, just because my first impression last year wasn’t exactly the most flattering, but I gotta say, we had some of the most fun shows ever this time around. Lawrence saw us at Harbour Lights, a cool bar that we hit on a Sunday night, so we weren’t expecting folks hanging from the rafters... but we had a quality crowd, not a quantity crowd, and everyone was really nice to us. Next up we arrived in Wichita, where last year I was afraid I’d be tarred and feathered. Maybe it was the new venue we played at, in a different part of town, but I LOVED this place, and the crowd was awesome. This turned out to be one of the best shows to date, and I can’t wait to hear the recording... packed room, cool audience, great sound, much love. John Barleycorn’s is way rad. Then we went to a new town for me: Hays. Home of Fort Hays State University and... ....and.... ...and... uhhh...... a lot of farms. We pulled in, and Rodney was just like, “trust me; there will be people here”. And he didn’t lie; The Page was full of seventy-five fine, music loving folk, and one dude who had apparently just dosed a Super-soaker tankful of LSD. This guy, of course, sat in the front row the whole night, and couldn’t stop screaming “ROD-NEEEEEEE!” at various points during everyone’s set; most notably during Mine. Thing is, he wasn’t heckling... he was apparently really into the music, and in his debilitated state, the only word he could formulate was Rodney’s name. A bunch of guys in the back asked me if I wanted them to kick his ass... I still don’t know if they followed through on that... hmmm.... but Kids? Don’t do drugs. This guy looked like an IDIOT. And his yelling ruined our recording of the show. :( The best part of that night happened AFTER the show, actually. We headed another half hour west to stay with some friends of the Branigans in WaKeeney, at the now infamous Sherwood Barn & Grill. We ended up staying up until five in the morning, playing music up in this cool-ass converted barn, and ultimately becoming the first artists to sign John Sherwood’s refrigerator. An excellent experience. :] From Kansas Rodney and I trekked ahead of everyone else to Colorado for a duo show in Boulder at Penny Lane. This is a cool little bohemian coffeehouse that I played last spring with Joel Ackerson, and we actually brought a few folks out for a good time in a laid back atmosphere. The rest of the caravan showed up the next day,and we went out on the Pearl Street Mall to play in the street for passers-by. That was a hoot; we met some really cool folks who listened to us for nearly an hour, and met a really nice chiropractor who offered us free adjustments in trade if we’d play for her office! (Thank you again, Mimi!) That night, we played a birthday party for an old friend of Rodney’s at a patio restaurant on The Hill, near C.U. I’ll be damned if ANYONE but the people we brought out personally heard a single note we played. It was the rowdiest, not-caringest crowd I’ve played to in over a year, and it was frigging terrible... remember the gig I hated back in North Carolina? This was worse. I mean, people didn’t even listen to RODNEY, and they brought him out themselves! We decided the best way to deal with loud, drunken yahoos was to just join them for an evening, so we were intending to descend into a drunken stupor, but luckily, the police showed up and shut us down because of a noise ordinance. I can’t say we were heartbroken. Bringing us up to this weekend. We’re here in Lakewood, the suburb just west of Denver, and last night we had a BLAST at the Ironworks Brew Pub. It was definitely the best show I’ve ever had here, and the crowd responded well to everyone. We’ve reached the point where we’re starting to sit in on each other’s sets pretty frequently, and for our show tonight, we’re planning on pulling out all the stops and just flat out jamming.... I’m really excited about it. Then next week we’re spending in Amarillo for Thanksgiving, and I’ll be holing up in Rodney’s new studio to finish up tracks for my new album. The timing couldn’t be better, as we all need a few days off. I’m sure I’ll update more then, because this entry is freakin’ HUGE, and should be truncated. Here. :) -Seth

05:17 a.m.
RICHMOND, VA -- Thursday, November 6th; I am typing this on Rodney Branigan's laptop, in the passenger seat of his brand new mini-RV, sitting in the Flying J parking lot outside Richmond VA, after our second full gig together of this tour at Poe's Pub. Guarding me is Asta, Rodney and Erin's faithful German Shepard. Life is good! :D Since leaving western Mass, I went back to Boston for a gig at The Burren with Danielle Miraglia and friends, including a quick '3 Men On Bass' reunion with Tom Bianchi and Gonzalo Silva, then took a nice day off in New York City with a bunch of friends I haven't seen in quite some time, and then made it down to Philly by Tuesday to get picked up by Rodney and Erin at the Greyhound station and enter what will be my home for the rest of the year; this GORGEOUS vehicle. :) If you come to a show you'll no doubt see it in the parking lot. It's a SWEET little ride. I'm jealous, but I get to live in it anyway, so it's not so bad... Rodney and I did the Grape Street Pub that night, and that went okay for a Tuesday... I know a lot of folks can't make it out on early weeknights, but it was Rodney's first time, and he was well received. Then Wednesday we stopped in DC at the XM Radio studios on our way south. Rodney and I did a session there that will make it's way to the Sattelite radio airwaves sometime within the next month, and from what I can tell, the stuff sounds REALLY good, considering we haven't really played together in a year! :) ....then we got through the Tornado-laden landscape down to Richmond to play at Poe's. It was the first time the owner had seen me or Rodney, and we actually had some people just show up because of the whole Vertical Horizon thing, as well as a fan from DC who drove even more than we did, and some fans from our open mic appearances last year. It's so nice to be remembered... it really made us feel good, and we had a super-fun night. Poe's has not seen the last of either of us! Tonight we do the first of two college shows: We're at Loyola College in Baltimore, and then on Friday we're at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Both shows should be out of HAND... I'll let ya know... -Seth :]

02:34 p.m.
NORTHAMPTON, MA -- Saturday, November 1st; Last night was a HOOT! I presented myself onstage at the show as none other than one of the most magnanimous rock bassists ever to stride across an arena stage: GENE SIMMONS. In full KISS makeup, vampire cape, headbanger wig, tights, and bondage gear across my chest, I performed at least a song and a half before I thought I'd lose my mind and I had to start losing pieces of the costume. There are pictures. I will post them. I can only guess they're hysterical. :] It was good times though. I even had the front row of seats half-full of teenage chicks dressed in catholic schoolgirl outfits. Rock and roll LIVES!! In other news, I just got the report that "Something Pretty" was the fourth-most played song on XM Radio's "Unsigned" channel this week! For those not in the know, XM Radio is a sattelite based radio network that covers the entire country. It's a subscription service, so there aren't any commercials; just music music music all the time. The Unsigned channel plays all kinds of independent music, and apparently, they've taken a shine to my tune. Next week, Rodney Branigan and I will be stopping by their studios to record LIVE, so stay tuned for how that turns out... more soon! --Seth :]

11:37 p.m.
NORTHAMPTON, MA -- Friday, October 31st; Happy Halloween, y'all. Tonight I am scheduled to perform at the Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton, Massachusetts, and I have FINALLY narrowed it down to a costume... now I just have to find the right pieces in time for the show. The hunt is on... Cool item of note: ED TOTH, drummer for Vertical Horizon, is featured in the December 2003 issue of MODERN DRUMMER, and in a sidebar of his interview they list the albums he's played on. Not only is "Notwithstanding" listed right after the VH records, but they even printed a picture of the cover! Wicked, wicked cool. Let us not pontificate on why the record has been featured in a DRUMMING magazine before a BASS magazine... let us just be happy about the "magazine" part. :) This thing seems to be back in action, so I'll be posting more and more again... see y'all soon... -Seth :)

02:36 a.m.
BOSTON, MA -- Tuesday, October 28th; This sucks! My jounal entries from the past month seem to have disappeared! I don't know what's going on... this pitas thing is a free service, so I guess you can't really complain... apparently they had a drive crash or something, and I just checked this to see what was up, so rest assured: I DID update this page a few times in October... you just can't tell right now... anyway, I just did the BASSES LOADED; EXTRA INNINGS show at Club Passim on Sunday night with Gonzalo Silva and Tom Bianchi, and it RULED! We had one of our greatest shows ever, and true enough: we closed the night with a special treat: we learned Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom". It was truly righteous, especially for those that had NO idea that the song is a joke. Priceless expressions on faces. :) I'm not sure if the server problem has been corrected yet, so I don't want to type another small novel and not get it posted... I'll post more in a few days if this post makes it and stays up!! -Seth :]

12:17 p.m.
SANTA MONICA, CA -- Thursday, October 2nd; Welcome to autumn in Southern California... wow it's nice right about now! The smog is more intense this time of year, but not so much in the Santa Monica/Malibu area, which is where I'm typing from. Ahhhhhh....... The past week and a half has been pretty busy: After leaving Albuquerque I made it to Flagstaff (the van is leaking a LOT of oil, so my trips are taking longer, but as I said, I made it), and there I reconvened with my buddy Justin Simison, who is kind of like the city's musical mayor. He runs an open mic four nights a week there, and has his own weekly gig, too. I guess he's like the Flagstaff Don, only he's about as Italian as a brautwurst. So I played this place called "The Joint". It was not fun. It was actually downright disappointing. I had advertised the show at NINE. I went on at TEN and played to seven drunk/annoying girls who yelled and screamed through my set, the bar staff, and three cool folks who I tried to devote most of my energy to. Then people showed up right after I finished at midnight, asking why I wasn't playing. I understand that most of the people who like my music are reasonably intelligent, so I'm asking a favor of y'all: Please, help explain to others that when I say I'm playing at NINE, I will most certainly NOT still be playing at MIDNIGHT. It's actually kind of insulting when people walk in right at the end of a show, because what tends to happen is, they see my last song or two, then shoot up to me afterwards and talk my ear off; obstructing me from interacting with folks who legitimately enjoyed the show, and THOSE are the people I want to talk to! ...grumble grumble... I think I like this jounal thing. I can vent whenever I want to!! But it's not just about venting; we're celebrating the good stuff, too. After Flagstaff, Justin and I went to Tucson, where he opened for me at Plush. It was the BEST PLUSH GIG EVER. So fun. :) All you beauteous Tucsonians filled the lounge and drank like fish and enjoyed the show, and I had a BLAST playing for y'all. Thank you... I can't wait to come back in December with Rodney! Before leaving for Southern Cali, I decided to honor what has become a tradition on my tours: I rented a car. I just don't think the van would have made it through Death Valley, plus sitting in the stop and go Los Angeles traffic.... nope. I figured better safe than sorry, so I'm currently in everyone's favorite vehicle: a Ford Focus. (Those familiar with previous stories of Ford Focuses may laugh hysterically here). They are such BAD cars!! I got a new one; just over 5000 miles on it. I got a flat tire the first day that nearly killed me. Thing ripped right open on the I-15. So I got ANOTHER Focus the next day, and so far (knock knock knock) that has been fine. I played Chapman University on Tuesday, and that show rocked like Kiss... the new Sheriff in town there, Mr. Everit Herder, has got his ducks in a row, and was of immeasurable help. A note to college entertainment chairpeople everywhere: having trouble with your post? Watch THIS guy. He's got it down. :) That same night, I went up to LA and did my first of five shows in a row with Joel Ackerson, who has been touring WITHOUT ME for the first time this month. Go Joel! We played at the Derby, and though the room sounds very nice and looks very nice, I was treated like a second class citizen. They allowed me to play 20 minutes after promising 30, so I did FOUR songs. Not cool at all; I won't be back. :( I am VERY much looking forward to my show tonight though: The Motley Coffeehouse at Scripps College is always a good time, and Joel (and his bass player, Brett) has never experienced it before. I seem to expose all my friends to this room... I've played it with David Peters, Larry Marciano, Rodney Branigan, and Gonzalo Silva, and everyone has always wanted to come back. Hopefully tonight will be no different... -Seth :]

12:27 p.m.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- Wednesday, September 24th; I am sitting in the Music Library at the University of New Mexico, which always seems to function as my base of operations whenever I'm in town. I've spent the last three days here in the Burque, playing the infamous Laura Dwyer's Music Appreciation classes. These are actually some of my favorite shows to play anywhere in the country. Why? Because the audience has no choice but to be there, and they can't run away without their grades suffering! Bwoo ha ha ha ha!!!! No; that was a lie. I enjoy the classes because they're a great way to offer up the music to the people that usually seem to enjoy me the most; college students. A lot of touring performers I know will bypass Albuquerque entirely because they say it's hard to break into the scene here... I guess I'm spoiled. I can't wait to come back in just a few weeks, when Mr. Branigan and I will be rocking the house at our Keller Hall concert... that's gonna RULE. :) ...and it's on Rodney's birthday... hmmm..... ...but I digress; also while I've been here I did a record release show at Hastings Books and Music... what a nightmare that almost was! I showed up, and though everyone there was nice to me, they HADN'T ORDERED ANY COPIES OF THE RECORD!! Hello?? My label set up the show with the corporate headquarters, and corporate headquarters didn't think maybe they should have some copies of my ALBUM to sell while I was there?? Careful, kids; just because corporations are big doesn't mean they don't have a few village idiots in key positions... jeeezus.... so I just sold MY copies of Notwithstanding, and the store made no money off of me... I mean; I don't mind that, but it must have seemed strange to them... I tell ya; I just don't get it sometimes. Prior to arriving in Albuquerque, I spent the weekend in the Denver area, which I almost didn't make it to in time due to... who knew? VAN trouble. I'm infamous for this. I've cancelled at least one gig every tour because something happens to whatever vehicle I'm travelling in. It's become not a question of IF it will happen, but a question of WHEN. Luckily, this tour it happened on the four day drive from Charlotte NC to Denver, and I was able to make up the lost day by driving like a sleep-deprived maniac to Fort Collins and arriving at one in the morning. :) Actually, it happened the very DAY I made the last journal entry... hopefully this will not become a trend... But Colorado was cool; I played a weekend in Lakewood at the Ironworks Brew Pub -- the usual haunt for me. This venue breaks all the rules of the typical room I like to play; it's really loud, really smokey, and on first impression, it seems like the audience is there more for the pool tables than the music. I learned over time though that they actually DO like me there though, and it was nice to see some familiar faces in attendence... on Saturday night, I was able to have my friend Tim Corley (formerly of San Diego; now of Colorado) come and sit in, and that was a blast. We tore us up some Crowded House, and quite nearly some Journey. Quite nearly; it'll have to wait for later in the fall, y'all. :] Otherwise, things are moving right along. It seems like people are buying the new Notwithstanding slowly but surely... and I can understand there might be problems, what with certain chain stores not ORDERING any... grrr... and the radio stations are starting to add it into rotation this week, so hopefully that will continue to grow, too. It's a very uncertain time for me, just waiting to see how people will react and the label seeing if they can get any career mileage out of this whole thing. Every little bit of support helps, so my biggest thanks to everyone who's been telling their friends and showing their support! I'll write more again soon... Seth :] Oh! And now, on this News page, if you want to read any OLDER entries, you can do so by going HERE: http://web.pitas.com/sethsbase/archives.html