See if you can spot me
But don’t blame me for the hairdon’t that they gave me!

It came and went so fast! I guess I was having too much fun. I really had no idea how bustling Chicago is, it’s almost on par with parts of NYC.

I arrived on a Friday and rented a sublet in the Gold Coast area. It was nice to be central to everything. I probably ate the same dinner at the same place for like 4 of the nights at a place called Big Bowl where you can make your own stir fry. I love me a good stir fry.

The band members that played with me were amazing, they really came to rehearsal knowing most of the parts to the songs and it made it so easy to do what normally would take a handful of rehearsing. The club was pretty nice, it’s always nice to play a good sounding club after playing so many shit holes in my life. It’s like an ice cream on a hot summer day.

I’ve also been so lucky to fall into good weather so far on this tour I haven’t been suffocated with heat or humidity. It’s been bearable weather and I thank the earth lords for blessing me!

On my last day I wandered over the Art Institute and snapped this:

And my last weekend the lady next door to me decided to go insane and keep me awake all of the weekend. Thanks lady, you really are too kind!

Only thing I’m bummed about is I didn’t get to meet Oprah! Well it’s time to rest my head, next stop is Boston!

Howdy!

I just finished up my shows in Denver and wanted to share my experiences!

Here we go:

So my first few nights I had stayed in a small motel and was welcomed by a flood of Grasshoppers! I guess they are moving west and making their way through Denver, as much as a grasshopper used to be cool as a kid, they kinda gross me out now. Especially seeing that many all around.

Denver is 1 mile above sea level and it really affected me and kept prices down! 1 whiskey on the rocks felt like 3, 1 glass of wine felt like 2. So I didn’t have to spend much! And a cup of coffee was like 10! Altitude gratitude! I did feel a little sick here and there from the height but for the most part my body had adjusted to it. Another weird thing is that 99% of grocery stores don’t carry wine or alcohol! They have a law out there that only allows the one main store of all the chains to carry it and the rest can’t. Not a big problem to go to the liquor store but just awkward!

When my room availability ran out, because of a conference in downtown Denver, I was about to find another place when my bass player offered the extra room at his house with his wife. I saved a bunch of money but the best part was I got to connect with them. His wife works at a funeral house and had some interesting stories to share. So very six feet under! They were even watching six feet under on tv.

First day of rehearsal we went to the drummer’s space in this really interesting old ex-armory warehouse. The place smelt like must, dirt and mold and could have been perfect in any ax murdering movie. Yet it was charming! Just creepy! We had 2 rehearsals before our gigs.

Larimer Lounge was the first show and the space has been played by a bunch of indie artists I’ve loved over the years. It’s a bit of a dive bar but the sound made up for it. There’s something about playing smelly bars that makes you feel alive.

Then we played Cervante’s and the location is in a bit of a shady area of Denver, I had heard someone mention that their friend was shot out front! None the less we jiggled the room around. Here’s a clip:

Then on my last day I ventured to the 16th street mall area and happened upon this:

So that’s my Denver week for you! Now I’m in Chicago and getting ready for the show out here. If you or anyone you know lives in Chicago please let them know! The shows are all listed HERE.

Lots of Lurv,

VM

Doesn’t it feel good to be nice to someone? It sure does…

Today I was at the grocery store and a nice older african american gentleman who worked there in the wine section asked if I needed any help. To be completely honest I was about to just say no thank you and keep walking but an instinct told me not to. I wanted to see if they had this bottle of Beaujolais that I really like (you know how I love wine). He was an intelligent and articulate older man that had a lot of good recommendations and I found we had a common love for wine. I told him about a particular bottle that they sold at another one of it’s stores that they didn’t have and he found 2 of the same brand, small 375ml bottles (fyi 2 of these make up 1 regular  750ml bottle). He said he’d give them both to me for the price of one 750ml that they charged at the other stores, which saved me all but maybe 7 bucks. Anyway it’s not about the money but about the way this person treated me and his manor and uncommon warmth.

I felt so good about this experience I decided to call in to the store 3 hours later to thank him for that experience. As simple as it sounds, he said that it made his day. Well in fact he made my day!

In our culture we are taught to not go above and beyond the normal humdrum of everyday life patterns. We are taught not to look people in the eyes or to acknowledge someone’s presence. In L.A. we drive our cars in traffic like little bubbles, in NYC we sit on subways and pretend the person next to us doesn’t exist. We are ok with the mundane status quo living that our parents brought us up to.

If you love me as much as I love you then I ask you to do this…as an exercise…engage or interact with someone you normally would never even think to. Whether it’s commenting on his/her awesome shoes, hat, choice, decision, action or whatever! It’s such a simple thing to do but put yourself out on the line and risk feeling embarrassed. No you don’t have to feel like you are hitting on someone to strike up a conversation about something, that’s how our culture thinks! It might sound a bit selfish to make yourself feel better by making others feel better but in fact it’s that kind of selfishness that we all need. Please come back and comment here as I’d love to hear about your own experience!

Ok I’m done with sounding like a self help book! The wine is kicking in!

Love you all!

VM