Almost to New Orleans

Tour is catching up with me. You notice about three weeks in that you no longer care about shaving or that smell in the RV. It becomes you, you become tour. I've noticed the same feeling on backpacking trips before. My Dad and brother, Eric, are out on the trail in Utah right now. I wonder if they've broken the smell-barrier yet, when you're so used to the group smell, it disappears.

After the first week, weather in the Midwest became nicer, sunnier, and more humid (the call of The South). Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, St. Louis, and the big shocker of the tour Dayton, were all fun shows. We are earning fans, one at a time. That is the model now. Gone are the days of hiding backstage, coming out and playing your hour set only to retreat behind a curtain again. God forbid anyone stop you to ask about the music. Music was more mysterious in the 70's. Now Twitter and Facebook and Myspace and Google Earth and the CIA make being anonymous pretty difficult. Some bands, like TOOL, have somehow managed to keep their personal identities under wraps while attaining a huge level of success. Others are like John Mayer, who just got into worldwide hot water for his tweets.

The point is, a record deal and darkened limo are not the golden chalice of music anymore. I looked up Miley Cyrus the other day because I have a friend who wrongfully was ripped apart last week on American Idol, and I was curious who the celebrity vocal coach retained as a label. Hollywood Records it turns out. These are the same people who bring you The Jonas Brothers and countless other acts who grow up as "artists" in the Disney Conglomerate. In other words, the highest selling record for who knows how long in 2009 was put out by the same people who imparted Mickey Mouse to our national heritage.

No, we are doing excellent in our 1987 Mallard Sprinter, thank you. And our record label doesn't have a limo, it has a hot tub. The party comes to us.

Speaking of Mountain Size Records, seeing pictures of our album being mastered by who some call the master, David Glasser, both Grammy's in plain view on the console in his studio, was awesome. I can't wait for Actual Natural to come out. It's the best sounding thing we've done and it will be a platform for our success in the near future. Brad Smalling deserves a lot of credit for pulling Frogs out of a lablel-less, album-less vacuum and getting our record out in time for summer. We are already seeing increased attention from booking agencies and potential managers. Real life people who want to help bands! They're out there!

As I write this we are pulling into Lexington, KY. Needless to say, we've left the Midwest and it's vast expanse and entered the humid South. Frogs like the humidity. We'll see shows in new markets this week, Charleston (beach!) and Greensboro, then on to my favorite city in the world, New Orleans. First we'll stop in Nashville next Monday, a city I never could have guessed I would have such an intense and long relationship with. We will play these shows alongside a rising force in the funk scene, Lubriphonic. We've even received wind that some very important agency people might be observing the Nashville show. Can't wait to blow their minds.

Check http://www.frogsgonefishin.com and http://www.mountainsizerecords.com for album info and tour schedule!

Tour... Check!

Frogs Gone Fishin' rolled into Denver on Saturday, weary and tired from 50 days on the road. The mountains have never looked so good. Traveling west on I-70, you don't see the distant purple outline of the Front Range until you are well inside Colorado, a beacon for your arrival in Denver.

The final driving leg of tour was particularly grueling, 23 hours and 1,141 miles in the car after our last gig in Asheville, NC. We stopped for a Halloween get-together with our friends Kinetix, another Denver-based band, in Columbia, MO. Switching off in the driver's seat every three to four hours, I drove the 6 30am shift through that less-than-scenic neighbor state, Kansas. The sunrise over the cornfields was pink and inviting as we approached the Colorado border.

We've had a short break from music since Saturday, but rehearsed yesterday in preparation for our homecoming gig in Boulder tonight at The Fox Theater. This will be our biggest show in Colorado to date, and we couldn't be more excited. We'll have more of an extended break from touring through the winter, as we plan on playing shows within Colorado until we depart for New Orleans for another semi-permanent stay in February.

Some highlights of tour included:

- Making it to Flagstaff for the first gig of tour, after our car failed to start in New Mexico.
- Discovering Bar PM in Lubbock, TX. They treated us well and the kids at Tech know how to get down.
- Austin City Limits (I scored a free ticket!).
- Helping people in Houston feel some sense of normalcy after Hurricane Gustav wreaked havoc on their city. (After going through Katrina in NOLA, I could relate).
- Discovering Lake Charles, LA.
- Everything in New Orleans, always. See the post here for a more complete write-up.
- Playing for the debate watch party in Nashville. For a town as conservative as Nashville, the Democrats really know how to party and get behind their candidate.
- The surprisingly chill atmosphere and creative energy of Dubuque, Iowa.
- Carbondale and Normal, Illinois. Cool people all over Illinois.
- Staying at Carl the sound guy's house in Minneapolis. This house is filled with musicians, sound-guys, light-guys, creativity and energy. A house like this would benefit the music scene in any city.
- Too many car-bombs at the Irish pub show in Milwaukee.
- Thanksgiving dinner, prepared for us in Green Bay.
- Going to sleep back in Nashville after driving straight from Green Bay.
- Collaborating with our friends DJ Bowls and The Green Horns in Tennessee.
- The hotel room in Kentucky, a luxury so late in tour.
- Discovering North Carolina and Asheville, a heady town in a beautiful state.
- The first glimpse of our beautiful home under the mountains, Denver.

To distill all the events and faces of tour down to such a simple list would betray tour itself. In private we will thank everyone that fed, housed, helped, handled, handed-down, and tolerated us for their hospitality.

It takes me several days to adjust to life at home after tour. Sleeping in a bed, eating regular meals and interacting with the same set of people everyday outside of the band all feel awkward. Driving a car less than 30 feet long feels like driving a go-kart. The show tomorrow night at The Fox will help ease us back into the routine... We get to see all our friends at once.