You must be lost

String Cheese Incident drummer, Michael Travis' side project, Zilla. Should be a fine, fine show. 100% improvisation. $10 at the door from what I understand. Show will probably start around 10pm or so.

Hope to see some familiar faces! I'm ready for a good time out of the house.

(branflake, we're still coming over beforehand)

Well, after replying to the email that Dave Ratner sent me telling me my story was up on jambase, I had asked him if anyone was taping that he knew of, that I'd really like to get a copy of the show. He said they try to record all their shows, and would check to see if the tapes came out for that one.
I also offered my help any time they needed it. Well, seems SCI is now looking for some pics of their Big Spring Jam show (preferably with The Motet on stage) for cover art for their On The Road release of that show (for those of you who don't know, they make all their shows available to buy on cds, the series is called On The Road). They need the pics as soon as possible because they're wanting to get to press quickly.

So, anyone who may have been taking pictures, be they snapshots or anything, let me know! Just email me and we'll see if we can get some copies. Chris and I have borrowed a negative scanner from a friend, so if you've at least gotten processed negatives (costs about $3/roll to just get them processed, not printed), then we can get electronic copies for no charge. If you've already got electronic copies (i.e. from a digital camera), those would be helpful as well. Anything really!!!

After what I believe to be one of the best shows I've ever seen, I got to work on Tuesday morning and just had to write an email to Dave Ratner and Brandon Mann, The Motet's manager and booking agent. After months of work, emails back and forth, and probably over 1000 flyers slipping through my hands in one weekend, (as well as the hands that so graciously helped me out in my absence) I just had to thank the guys who really made it happen. Also, I just had to sing the praises of an amazing band. So what do I get in return? The manager offers to distribute a review of the show on jambase, all over the net and anywhere else he can manage to get it, if I'm willing to write it. Hmm.. . . am I up to the task? He persuades me with a title of "Official Huntsville Correspondent for Jambase.com". Although I think its somewhat the same as the "Anointed Promotions Director" position he gave me for the show. Mostly bullshit, but sounds fun.

Well, obviously Sunday night was nothing short of phenomenal for me. SCI in my own hometown, The Motet in my favorite local bar!!! No way!! YES WAY!! Well, all weekend we were talking about what sort of SCI show Huntsville was going to be. Honestly I had to say, I just didn't know. I couldn't imagine with their new directions what they would try to pull off.

We got back on Sunday in time to rest for a bit, change clothes, and head down to the Jam to start distributing the remainder of the flyers. I was pleased to find out once I got there that nearly everyone I handed a flyer to either already knew about The Motet show to follow, or had already gotten a flyer some time over the weekend (ah, my minions at work, WAY TO EARN YOUR KEEP GUYS!!! Thanks a million to those who helped and those who came out too!).

The SCI set started out a bit slow, and I thought it was going to be another hometown flop honestly. But then they picked up a little bluegrass, and just went with it. The local "family" and the travelers made the best of the gravel parking lot we had to dance in, and spirits started to soar. They finished set one on a high note, and I was buzzin'.

Chris and I went to grab a bite to eat and get rid of the rest of the flyers at set break. We wandered around, talking to familiar faces, seeing old ones we hadn't seen in so long (granted if we'd leave the house more we'd probably see them a lot more often). It was heartwarming really to see so many old friends, and then familiar faces from the road, all nestled in the same place together.

So, second set starts, and who comes out, but Dave Watts, Scott Messersmith, and Dominic Lalli (drums, percussion, and sax) of The Motet. Billy mentions the guy's show following the Jam at Crossroads, as well as a little known trivia fact that The Motet played he and Jill's wedding (bet that was quite a party). At that point, I looked at Chris and said "well, so much for flyers, that's all the promotion we need now". But what would they play?

Well, they broke out one of my old favorites, Paul Simon's Under African Skies, which is always beautiful, but these guys are drum masters, they added that extra kick of Americubafrican Groove. So that's over, and the rest of The Motet (Mark Donovan on guitar and Greg Raymond, keyboards) comes out to join them for Freedom Jazz Dance. So, ok, I boogied my ass off!!. And then took most of the rest of the set to relax and prepare for the after show.

Shortly before the encore, Chris and I headed over towards Crossroads. There was talk of it selling out, so I wanted to be sure the show I'd been working so hard for I wasn't going to miss. We got our stamps for entry, and then headed over to Booksys real quick to make use of their facilities and their water cooler. Then we went to sit outside of Crossroads with Kristin, Krissy and Alex. Slowly after the encore, people filed over to the bar to see about getting into the show. We drank about a pitcher of beer while we waited, and then I heard the first song start, so I made my way inside and up to the front.

My oh my what a treat!!! All our hard work paid off ten fold, and I was left breathless, and aching from dancing non-stop for nearly 3 hours. I thought their drum jam was never going to end!!! And in some ways, I hoped it never would. After the show, and the encore that was begged out of them (note: I've never seen a Crossroads crowd beg for an encore from a band), I stepped to the side of the stage to say a quick thanks to Dave. He thanked us for being such a great enthusiastic crowd. Later I got the chance to say the same to Scott. They seem more than willing to make future appearances here. I heard Megan run up and say that Scott was asking around for where the drum circle was after the show. Chris had class early in the morning, or I would have totally said, "pack up your stuff, except what you want to play with and meet me in the park in an hour", and then distribute all my drumming buddies to assemble the troops and do the same. So much for early mornings I suppose.

Jason said after a bit of what sounded to me like P. R. work, plugging my name into every comment he could while talking to the guys (as well as some undeserved praises of my drumming skills, I'm sorry, but I'm in no way the best drummer around here), he gave them his number, said he had a kit set up in his living room already and would be happy to stay up and play some drums.

I gave him a call and told him if anything happened and they showed up or called to let me know, because Chris was willing to skip class the next day to appease me. Well, never heard back, should have gone with my impulse and gotten them to the park. Some other time perhaps.

All goes to show that when you put your mind to it, and apply yourself to a cause you believe in, throw in some determination and a slew of friends who support you and your ideals and are willing to lend a hand, you can actually make some positive things happen.

Well, here I am, on live journal with all the rest of the bozos. I personally prefer books to write in, but oh well, I know tons of people who are on here, so why not.

Chris wants to go to B'ham tonight to see Victor Wooten, we're flat broke, but Brian's willing to front us two of his numerous spare tickets. Only problem is we were just discussing yesterday how broke we are, how we're going to be broke until the paycheck after this next one, and how we don't need to go to stuff like this. I'm apprehensive about the whole thing really. On one hand, it'll be great, a good time, probably a great show, intimate venue and such, on the other, I'm so freakin tired of working my ass off and still being broke. Stupid Book Systems and their bad money management, can't pay me jack. Oh, but what's a girl with dreads to do in the professional world.

Last weekend's brief traveling really got me thinking about such things. What if we could just hit the road, just run around and see where we land? I was going to try to sell some jewelry I had made up last weekend, but the lot scene just wasn't happening (if I had been selling veggie burritos or grilled cheese and beer, I would have made a killing, wares just weren't going). I guess I was going to use that as somewhat of a test of how well my work would go. Granted it's still all pretty simple, I'm just starting to branch out beyond hemp now. I walked over to Psycho and Daedra's table and he's got pieces for sale for as much as $3600 (beautiful intricate wire wrapped bracelets, rings, pendants, incredible work really). How to compete with that in a lot? Then there's the fact that we just signed a 2 year lease about 2 months ago, so we're kind of stuck here at least that long. Hopefully it'll work out that Chris finishes school and our lease runs up and then we could just head west, or anywhere but here really. In a perfect world I suppose.

Well, now its official, we're going to put ourselves in just a bit more debt to go tonight. As Chris put it, this is a credit card trip. Seems every time we start to catch up, something else really cool comes along. Apprehension growing, growing, growing. . .