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04:30 p.m.
ST LOUIS, MO -- Wednesday, September 17th; THE ROAD UPDATE!!! I am in the middle of my trip from Charlotte NC to Denver CO, and am catching up on my computer stuff from Kinko's; the most expensive internet access in America!! :D But there's much to report, so twelve bucks an hour bedamned! First off, The Gig Report. Louisville, we know, was decent. The next night I played the open mic at The Thirsty Ear Tavern in Columbus Ohio. I always have a great time when I play that, and the crowd this past trip was ultra-cool. The host, though, was a substitute. Donna Mogavero, the usual hostess, who rules, was apparently away on vacation, and in her stead was some dude who gave me more attitude from the moment I entered the bar than I've gotten on the LA freeway after cutting off a Hell's Angel. This asshole had it out for me, and you could just see: he was SOOOO pissed that the crowd reacted so well to my set. I didn't let him faze me, but I can see why I haven't gotten a gig at that place yet with people like him around. What a prick. I did meet some very cool folks that night, and saw quite a few familiar faces. Columbus, if I ever find a room there, I will come back and give y'all the show of a lifetime; I promise! The next night I stopped in Pittsburgh for my debut show. This might turn out to be this tour's "Road Kill" (kind of like a Buzz Kill, but on a bigger scale, considering I make my living on the road). I played a place that a lot of people I know of play when they're in that city, but it's hard to imagine why: standing outside, I felt like I was in "8 Mile"... the part of town is seriously shady... regardless, I had some folks travel across town to see the show, and that was awesome. I had booked the show on the request of two Street Team members who'd been asking me to come there for awhile now, and I was happy to see that my girl Meghan had plastered the neighborhood with flyers (which she apparently did in the pouring rain! You go, girl!!) and brought out some new people. She rules this side of the universe :) It was extremely bumming to discover that my other proponent of Pittsburgh, who'd told me that if I booked a show he'd "pack the place", didn't even come. The topper was the club itself: they booked two other songwriters with me, meaning we had to split the money three ways, and they provided no door person, meaning we all had to stand there and take people's money. This can be a pretty demeaning experience, and it tends to turn musicians who should be taking pride in what they do into beggars. Some people looked at me like I was a leper for asking them to pay the cover charge. Like it's not bad enough that they can download music for free; they shouldn't have to pay to hear it live, either. Like I should just drive around the country and devote my life to entertaining people for free. People like that can kiss my ass. Grrrr.... but I digress. It was a bad night. The other two touring songwriters and I played to the eleven people that came to see me, and were about to split the money, when the girl behind the bar said that the cafe would be taking twenty percent, and that the soundman would be taking fifteen. This was news to me, so I spent some time on the phone with the owner (conspicuously absent that night), and got her to drop the cafe's cut. So the soundman (who really was a cool guy, and should be getting paid by the venue) made ten bucks, and we each made fifteen. So I ALMOST filled my gas tank that night. So yeah. Road Kill. But the story gets happy! Wait! Wait!! Looks like I just had to pay my dues that first week, because the next night in Keuka College was Awesome! Tom Bianchi did this show with me, and he and I had a BLAST playing to a roomful of Keuka students and one very eccentric woman named Glenda. Our girl on the board there, Sarah, has brought me back twice now, and she is getting a really cool Coffeehouse going there; Tom was agape about how much fun he had, and I think he'll be doing his own show there in the future. Good times all around. :) It got even better, too. The next day I returned to Philly for a show at the Grape Street Pub. It was awesome to see how many people turned out for this show! I've been trying to build a following in this room for about a year now, and this was my moment of truth: my first gig in the DOWNSTAIRS, on the main stage, with Mark Tadeo backing me up on drums. Thanks to all of you who came out and made it look good!! I know I already sound cocky, but for real: we rocked the house. :)
Afterwards I did a second show at midnight across town at a place called Carmella's. I went on after some Creed fans who sang about salamanders and stuff, and I don't think their girlfriends liked me, because they sat right in front of me and screamed over my first two songs. So I explained what "Something Pretty" is about and sang it to them. They left after that, and the rest of us had a great time. :) My days in the Washington DC area were cool as well: I arrived on the 8th to play the feature slot at an open mic in Vienna, VA. I was to play at ten. The host, who usually runs a tight ship, is moving out of town soon, and apparently has stopped really caring about things, and he allowed a few extra people to get on the list ahead of me, and also let another performer do a feature-length set early in the evening. So I went on just before 10:30, and played to the few wonderful folks who weren't too tired to stay. I was considering just doing a couple songs, but it turned out that some people I knew from parts far away happened to be in town that night, so I gave it all I had left, and had a good set. Man... I used to swear that open mics were the way, and by that point I was wondering if I ever wanted to play them again... like, "what's going ON??" The next night I went to another one though, and had a great time. It was in Fairfax, to meet yet another bassist/singer/songwriter: Scott Harlan. I'd heard tell that he's the most badass of all of us, and he did not dissappoint. He's still getting the vocal side of his act together (and by that I mean he's writing more songs that feature his voice; he sings great!), but he's a STUNNING bassist. Probably the best of the six of us I know about. It was a joy to listen to him. His website is, suprisingly, www.scottharlan.com. :) My show at Staccato the next night was also great. I played with Foxy Rebo (AWESOME band name... and the story behind it is pretty funny); a duo made up of Bernie and Helen from DC's now-defunct Dexter's Sandbox, and we had a killer crowd, and an awesome time. Staccato is a very cool little club in Adam's Morgan, and I will definitely return in the future! :]
....the roller-coaster gig ride never ends though. My next stop was Charlotte, NC, where I did shows on both Friday and Saturday night. Friday was at a restaurant. A really nice restaurant. It was set up for me by another street teamer, and she hooked me up with a great deal at this place. The staff was friendly, the owner was super-cool. The people there were VOMITOUS. Is that even a word? Ugh. I felt sick by the time I was done. I thrive on an audience giving back energy, either positive or negative, but when they don't give back ANYTHING, that's just the worst. I think I'm gonna do a video for a song one day based on my experience that night: me, playing solo in a crowded restaurant, giving it everything I've got, and just dozens of people facing away from me, talking, drinking, laughing, swearing, whatever; just oblivious to my presence. I closed my eyes, thought about the gas money, and just worked though it. It was spiritually draining. ....but yet again, the roller coaster took another corkscrew: Saturday night I played the Tosco Music Party. WOW. Wow wow wow wow wow. Amazing. Completely the oppposite: a bunch of performers playing to a packed 700 seat auditorium of music lovers. I went out on stage and felt like I owed these people my life, and they gave me back enough energy to get me through twenty restaurant gigs. Just amazing. John Tosco, you are a visionary! Thank you to everyone who came up and talked with me after that show... It was incredible to feel that many of you LISTENING. :)
...the wheels keep turning... I'll update more when I can... see y'all out there....
Seth :]
01:05 a.m.
LOUISVILLE, KY -- Wednesday, September 3rd; It is the wee hours of the morning, and I have officially begun the Fall Tour this previous evening here in Louisville. I played my second-ever One Night Stand with Heidi Howe at Clifton's, and we had ourselves a hoot... we made farm animal noises, and I got her to play her song "Wish You Were Lyle Lovett Inside". Good times... I spent much of my previous week in and around Indianapolis, and spent quite a bit of time meeting with the guys at Benchmark, hammering out details of our promotion campaign for "Notwithstanding" this fall. It's kind of weird for me to be going around calling it my "new" album, but to many many people, that's exactly what it is, so I'm doing my best to look at everything in a new unit of time. If I do my job and Benchmark does theirs, this will be an exciting season indeed; I'll be receiving airplay on college stations all over the country, as well as some non-commercial stations not involved with colleges, and here's a big deal: XM radio is already playing "Something Pretty" on two of its channels: the "Unsigned" channel and the "XMU" channel; where they spin the "college rock". (No, I still don't know exactly what that is...)
Coming Up: I am excited to play my first ever show in PITTSBURGH on Thursday night! I stopped through there over a year ago to check out the scene, and I have a few friends that have been hounding me to come back forever now, so I'm looking forward to actually DOING it. Then I return to Keuka College on Friday; hopefully this freaking RAIN will stop following me so that I can play outdoors... fingers crossed... and Saturday I'll be back in the Illadelph for my first DOWNSTAIRS show at the Grape with drummer Mark Todeo. I'm really jazzed about doing that... the last time I played a show just with a drummer was... was... ohmygod... forEVER ago.... I think it was Utica or something, back in 2002 sometime. Definitely an exciting week.
NOTWITHSTANDING WILL BE IN STORES ON SEPTEMBER 16th. FOR REAL!***
See y'all soon...
Seth :]
11:09 a.m.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Wednesday, August 20th; I have been hitting the open mic scene here in one half of the Twin Cities, and really like this place so far! Monday I arrived and played the open mic at a bar called Mayslack's... once I played, one of the hosts, George, abducted me and took me to see one of the slamminest funk bands I've ever seen... due in no small part to the fact that two guys who work with Prince were up on stage... George himself got up to sit in with the band, and that man tore himself up some "Little Wing"... mmm.
The highlight of my month though, was getting called up to sit in for the last selection of the night; a Sly and the Family Stone medley. Quite a few of you may know that two of my favorite artists of all time are Prince and Sly, so imagine if you will just how jazzed I was about playing Sly tunes with Prince's drummer. AHHHHH!!! I was about to rip my clothes off and run around screaming, but I refrained and just enjoyed myself. It was more fun than se... well... yeah. It really was. :] Tonight I journey beyone the Mississippi to check out an open mic in St. Paul at a place called Gingko's, and then LATER I will do a small show at CHEAPO RECORDS, 1300 LAKE ST (near Hennepin), UPTOWN MINNEAPOLIS, 10 PM sharp, FREE TO ALL! It's a cool store with a good sound system; Prince's drummer won't be there, but I'm gonna play like he is. :]
08:49 a.m.
FARGO, ND -- Monday, August 18th; I am sitting in the library of North Dakota State University, about to go scout the scene here in Fargo before splitting for the St. Paul/Minneapolis area. I was suprised to encounter Fargo on my trek across the northern US... it's been a week since I was in a city with more than 100,000 people in it!
So far, Portland was great, Seattle was great, Spokane was exactly like Buffalo, NY (and that's all I'm gonna say about that...), Missoula was a lot of fun, but is currently on fire... at least it looks and smells like it... Bozeman is very nice, Big Sky is stunningly beautiful, Billings was suprisingly cool, and Bismark is, officially, the Middle of Nowhere. Literally. Go look at a map. No kidding. As for shows this week, it is all currently up in the air.... I should have a few things set up, but don't know just what those things ARE yet... your best bet, if you or someone you know is in Minnesota or Wisconsin, is to email me directly and ask me what's up. I'll post more when I know!! - Seth :]
10:08 p.m.
PORTLAND, OR -- Thursday, August 7th; Oregon is pretty freakin' cool!! I am sitting here at the open mic of the Three Friends Coffeehouse, in the back, typing as I am bopping my head to the relentless groove of the mighty, mighty Tamara J. Baer, who had me feature earlier tonight. I haven't heard her in YEARS, and she is up there kicking so much ass I want to yell like I'm being whipped. Unh. :)
I can't wait to do a show here tomorrow night! This cafe is one of the coolest I've been to in awhile. It's small, but it totally makes the most of its space, and is a very open, welcome-feeling place. The acoustics are really really good, too. Fun stuff.
Cafe Paradiso in Eugene was fun, too! I met quite a few cool folks at the open mic there on Tuesday, where I got to do another feature. The crowd was interesting there... quite a mix of people. Some folks seemed to really "get" it, and some... well. There's always "some"... it seems there's always "that girl" or "that guy" at every open mic who does what we call "Rockstar-ing"... at Paradiso it was this young brunette lady who entered and exited the room as many times as she could during the beginning of the night... dressed like she was on TRL, walked directly in front of the stage while people were playing, and talked at the top of her lungs to as many people as she could during other people's performances. She was definitely Something Pretty... which was really funny to me, because you know how I pause in the middle of that song and hold that note when I sing, "I wonder if I'll care when you're not pretty anymore?"... well one person hooted right out after that note, obviously unaware that she's "That Girl".... sigh...
Anyway... I'm outty for now... but let the record show: Oregon is officially on the list of Place to Come Back to Very Very soon...!! =) --Seth
04:47 p.m.
RENO, NV -- Monday, August 4th;
Here's the latest Northwest Tour Dates!
TUESDAY, AUGUST 5th-
EUGENE OR-
BORDERS BOOKS AND MUSIC-
5 Oakway Center- 541.345.6072-
6 PM-
and also
EUGENE OR-
CAFE PARADISO open mic feature-
115 W. Broadway- 541.484.9933-
9 PM-
THURSDAY, AUGUST 7th-
PORTLAND OR-
MUSIC MILLENIUM (www.musicmillenium.com)-
801 NW 23rd St.-
6 PM-
FRIDAY, AUGUST 8th-
PORTLAND OR-
THREE FRIENDS COFFEEHOUSE-
201 SE 12th & Ash-
MONDAY, AUGUST 11th-
SPOKANE WA-
THE B-SIDE-
230 W. Riverside-
9 PM-
TUESDAY, AUGUST 12th-
MISSOULA MT-
BUDGET RECORDS & TAPES-
406-543-4792-
1910 Brooks St-
call for showtime!-
FRIDAY, AUGUST 15th-
BOZEMAN MT-
CACTUS RECORDS-
29 W. Main St.-
406-587-0245-
showtime TBA-
Must run, but I'll see you out there...
Seth :]
03:43 p.m.
RENO, NV -- Thursday, July 31st; Here I am, on a break on my LAST day of recording here at Sequoia Studios. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by, and how great everything is turning out... Last weekend both shows with the band were just screamingly good, and Joel, Ed, and Larry played some of the best music I've ever heard out of any of them; both live and on this record... I am truly excited about the future of this album, and can't wait until I can show all of you a few sneak peeks... But for now, I'm preparing to fly down to San Diego for the weekend to do two shows: one private house concert on Friday, and one public show at Hot Monkey Love in La Mesa on Saturday! Hot Monkey Love will see the reunion of the immensely talented Tim Corley and myself, and that should be pretty awesome. Tim is fifteen times the singer I am, and makes his poppy folk songs groove way harder than should ever be allowed. Then I'm back in Reno on Sunday to wrap up my stay, and by Tuesday I will be off, for the very first time EVER, to the American North... Eugene, Portland, Seattle, Spokane, Missoula, Bozeman, Billings, North Dakota, St. Paul/Minneapolis, Madison, and Milwaukee, then back through Chicago, Cleveland, and Indianapolis by the end of August. Not too many people up in those parts know who I am, so if you have friends in any of those cities, have them come on out to one of my shows, or to one of the mini record store concerts I'll be doing! I'm in need of some North Country love, y'all. More soon... -Seth :]
11:45 a.m.
RENO, NV -- Saturday, July 26th; Okay; okay... I'm awake.... (grog grog grog... THUD.) Hooo... last night was awesome, but note to self... do NOT hang out until three am at the casino after the big show when you still have another day of recording ahead and another show the next night! Sloooooow going this morning. But! The show last night was so much fun, and the boys played their asses off. Thank you to everyone who came out! We had a blast, and we're doing it again tonight at the Great Basin Brewery in Sparks at 8 PM. This show will ALSO be recorded, and we'll take the best cuts from both shows to make some nifty bonus tracks for the next album, I think. The way it looks now, this new record may be called "Conduit", and there'll be ten studio tracks: six solo and four with the band. Discuss! :] ...more soon....
-Seth
11:41 a.m.
SANTA MARIA, CA -- Saturday, July 19th; I have awoken in the lovely and newly remodeled home of Chuck and Michelle Kossuth, the most gracious hosts of what is becoming one of the coolest house concert series I know of. Last night I got to perform on the same bill as Michael Manring and Jud Duncan. Southern Cali fans no doubt have seen Jud and I together on the same bill before... he and I pretty much had that market cornered as far as solo bassist/singers. Michael is a much bigger fish... he's probably The Reason I have the guts to do what I do at ALL. He's simply the most amazing bassist I've ever seen. That's not knocking Victor Wooten, mind you; Michael's music just moves me in a way that nothing else does. Getting to be in a living room experiencing him doing his thing was just bliss. But Jud and I came up and switched off songs for a set, and Michael sat in with us the whole time. Imagine, if you will, what it would sound like if Seth, for once, played "Keep To Myself" accompanied by the guy he stole all those ideas from in the FIRST place, and if at the end of the tune, if Seth and this guy just started playing off each other... just sort of slapping-in-the-round. It was righteous. Michael is a wonderfully sweet person too, as is his new bride, Kelly. Great people all around, and an amazing evening of music. Every time I see Michael play, I seem to go write something new that brings my playing to the next stage... the last time I saw him, I changed the song I was working on into what is now "Understatement". The time before that, I went home and wrote "Just if I". Now I just happened to have PLAYED with the man in the middle of recording my new record. I can only cackle when I imagine what's going to come out next... stay tuned :] --Seth
12:31 a.m.
RENO, NV -- Monday, July 14th; Whoa... almost to the half-way point in recording this album, and I am really pleased with how things are sounding... Trebor, the engineer here at Sequoia, is top notch, and has been making me sound not just like I know what I'm doing, but like I MEAN to do what it sounds like I know what I'm doing! Truly remarkable stuff. Some of the new songs we have recorded include "Understatement", "Pretending To Heal", and a song that is sure to raise eyebrows in the coming months called "Ripening Time". Quite a bit of this new record will be me playing alone and using my looping pedal, but a chunk of it will feature the band from 'Notwithstanding', and arrangements have been made to get those guys out here one week from today! I'm very excited about this. It's been over two months since I've seen either Joel or Larry, and nearly four since I've seen Ed. This combination of musicians created a sound I really love on the last record, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they come up with this time around. Each of these guys is a dear friend as well, and getting to hang out with all of them at once will definitely make for a memorable week. Add to all this the fact that we're going PLAY together for a live recording on the 25th, and I'm just losing my mind here. Good stuff. ALSO VERY EXCITING: In just a few days I will be taking a short trip down to Santa Maria, California to perform at a house concert with one of my biggest inspirations, solo bass guitarist Michael Manring. He's definitely where I steal at least 90% of my playing technique from, and I've been listening to him for as long as I've been playing. To boot, my close friend and fellow bassist/singer/songwriter Jud Duncan will be playing the show with us. Too cool for words.
More soon!!! --Seth
06:26 p.m.
RENO, NV -- Wednesday, July 2nd; What a trip... I've arrived in Reno unscathed, but just barely... I will say these things about my Interstate 80 experience: 1. Iowa and Nebraska look a LOT less like Kansas than I thought they would... 2. there are apparently NOT ENOUGH people populating the entire state of Wyoming to justify any cellphone coverage there whatsoever... 3. if you're going to experience van trouble in the state of Nevada, I highly recommend stalling out a mile away from the town of Wells. Not only is there a decent diner, a cheap Motel 6, AND a good old fashioned, honest-to-goodness whorehouse, but there's a very friendly and efficient auto mechanic located within walking distance of everything. (I should clarify: I didn't actually go experience the whorehouse firsthand, but it was duly called to my attention as one of the most likely places to find a Western Union... go figure.)
So to reward any of you in the Reno area who are actually checking these updates, I have a new development to report! We are wasting no time getting rolling with the recording here at Sequoia Studios, and as of TOMORROW; Thursday July 3rd, we will be recording Yours Truly at the Farmers Market stage; I won't be doing my own show there until later this month, but I will be sneaking onstage for about twenty minutes between bands (I'm guessing around 6 PM) to bring the Rock. Hopefully I'll see some of you there!
Finally, I must say, I'm overwhelmed... since announcing my signing with Benchmark Records on Saturday, I hopped in the van and haven't checked my email again until today... and over A HUNDRED OF YOU wrote me personally to say congratulations!!! I'm stunned, and very very thankful. Please know that I appreciate every word, and that I'll try and write each of you back just as soon as I can, but things are happening fast here, and it might take a leeetle while.... !! =) In the meantime, I'll start busting my ass to make this record happen, and will keep y'all updated whenever I can. Thanks to everyone for all the support; it means more than you know.
--Seth :]
06:33 p.m.
INDIANAPOLIS IN -- Friday, June 27, 2003
Okay; I've made some necessary adjustments to the website, and I PROMISE that this will be updated more often now!!!
There's going to be so much changing so quickly over the next few months, and I've had such limited access to my website since being on the road all the time, so I just went and made this cool Pitas diary my official News Update site.
So much to tell. I've been on the road since the beginning of February, and am only NOW about to take my first substantial time off... but not really. I am currently enroute to Reno, Nevada, where I will be holed up for the entire month of July, recording my NEW RECORD!! I stopped here in Indianapolis because this is where Benchmark Records (http://www.benchmarkrecords.com) is headquartered, and they are now, OFFICIALLY, my record label. That means:
...I'm SIGNED!!
Indeed. We're currently forming the game plan for the coming months, but I can definitely say this: "Notwithstanding" has been remixed and remastered, and will be RE-released at the beginning of August. It sounds so much better than the original record it's not even funny, and I am wickedly happy with the job David Peters did on it. Y'all are gonna LOVE it.
So this means that the record I am about to go make in Reno won't be out until later this year or at the very top of 2004... but I'm talking with the label about making a few tracks available on a sampler CD that I'll bring on tour with me this fall, so those of you who've been chomping at the bit for new tunes won't start rioting... rest assured, "Understatement", that new song I've been performing with the looping pedal, will be on the new album. Benchmark is made up of a great bunch of folks that are seriously supportive, and they've got a message board all set up for anyone who wants to nerd out and go talk about this stuff, too:
http://www.benchmarkrecords.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi
Somebody go tell them how cool I am and stuff! :)
I'm signing off, but there WILL be updates!! Yes. I swear. This time it's for real, baby...
Seth :]
02:00 a.m.
INDIANAPOLIS IN -- Joel and I are at the home of the wonderful Nora Spitznogle, manager of CATH here in Indianapolis, where we performed this evening. Joel is in the other room, discussing the state of (folk and other) music with another touring indie musician, Amy Speace. We've all just met this evening, as Amy is on her way back east while we're touring back west. We didn't have a ton of people show up for the gig tonight, but afterwards we went to Amy's show on Nora's recommendation, and have been having a delightful time hanging out with her and swapping songs here at Chez Nora. There's been a lot of talk of music, of what's right and wrong in the folk music scene, of the snobbery involved in the New York scene; where it's at and where it's not... but in general we're just chilling and talking and playing and having a fun time. I'm just checkin' in for now... more soon!
Seth :]
07:53 p.m.
BUFFALO NY -- I am setting up this road journal page on the eve of my third leg of 2003 touring. Many of y'all wrote me to say how much you enjoyed the "Tales From The Road" pages I put up after my 2001 escapades, and I did keep a journal during 2002... I just had no way of posting it on the site because I was constantly travelling! This Pitas.com website seems wicked cool, though, and hopefully those who want to read my ramblings shall be sated. :)
So where are we now... April 1st, and I've already got over two months of touring under my belt this year; I've crossed the country the long way three times, and am about to head back to California again, this time with my occasional partner-in-crime Joel Ackerson (http://www.joelackerson.com). Joel and I toured together back in March of 2001, and have only done small runs of shows together on occasion since then, so I think we're both pretty jazzed. He and I already know how to get along in a car for weeks on end, so I'm anticipating a really fun trip.
...actually, the only thing I'm worried about is the CD player. We're gonna be in Joel's van, not mine, and his rule #1 is sort of, "If I'm in shotgun, I'm the DJ... you keep your hands on the wheel and drive!" ...which is fine, but rule #2 is also, "If I'm driving, I pick the music. Here; hold the wheel so I don't kill us while I flip through my CD folder..."
This first week together we'll be hitting Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Chicago, none of which Joel has ever played, being an northeast-based songwriter. Indie and Chicago have seen me come through with Rodney Branigan before, but this time will be much different, because whereas Rodney and I played our own sets on the same bill, Joel and I will do much of each evening playing together as a duo, which we've always kicked a lotta ass doing. :) For those not in the know, Joel played the acoustic guitars on "Notwithstanding"; his guitar style and my bass style complement each other really nicely.
Who knows what I'll end up using this this for as time goes on, but if it peaks your interest, keep checking back, and I'll be sure to at least post my thoughts on each show whenever I get the chance!
-Seth
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