Notes from the road--3/21/1996

Welcome to the tour bus. We're presently hurtling across Florida in our super swanky bus. We do everything on here; sleep, eat (hello microwave popcorn), watch movies (hello groundhog day), play backgammon, play music (new cracker record is the ruler of the universe) and yes--this is where I've got my computer set up to write these notes now.

We played Gainesville, Florida last night to a really great crowd of people who were with us from the beginning. It was kind of a strange day--I'll put the blame on the equinox--but anytime it's 40 degrees in Florida, things are odd. My friend Sky was kind enough to help me find vegetarian food and take me to a really great guitar shop where I only barely avoided walking away with a 1951 Gibson acoustic guitar. My favorite part of touring (aside from playing every night of course) is having a friend in a town like Gainesville show me around. We wound up at a really amazing Thai restaurant and then rolled ourselves into the venue and on to the stage. A nice day after all.

Mike Kroll and his band continue to amaze us every night. They've just been on fire--really special. They've got a new mascot- a three foot long alligator named Stuckey. We'll probably try to steal it soon. Mike tried to show us his music video yesterday, but our video player ate it. I took a picture, which I'll hope is up with this pile of notes. Maybe we'll get to see his video soon.

SXSW--that's South by Southwest--a music conference that takes place every year in Austin, Texas. We got to spend a couple of really great days in Austin for this fine music festival last week. Here are some of the highlights.

SWEET RELIEF--Tim and I got to play at a day long show featuring lots of the people who appear on the Sweet Relief record. Kristen Hersh was great, as was Vic Chesnutt. It was a little scary to play a Vic Chesnutt song with him sitting right there, but he seemed to be happy about our version.

MEDESKI, MARTIN and WOOD-- by far my favorite show of the fest. I haven't seen these guys in about a year, and I was reminded why they're my favorite live band in the world--there's a telepathy between the players that is unbelievable and the groove is king.

RON SEXSMITH--I've been a big fan of Ron's record for a while, and have seen him play solo quite a few times, this was the first time with a band. Great show--great songs. I think he's coming on tour with us in Europe--what fun that'll be.

OUR SHOW-- We did an unofficial (as far as the SXSW people were concerned) gig at a coffeehouse at 2:30 in the morning. It was my favorite show of the tour so far as it was full of people who seemed to really know our record and who were into singing along. I cut my hand open on my guitar in the middle of our first song, and bled all over the place for the set, but in true rocknroll fashion, it didn't hurt until the next day. We also got to appear on three (count 'em three) radio stations in Austin, and we had a lovely meal at Gueros--a great little restaurant.

Other than that, life on the road has been pretty low key. Lots of new songs coming out and more and more people showing up at concerts. We'll see you out there.

RANDOM INFORMATION:

From April 1 on, our opening act will be a band called SEMISONIC. They're from Minneapolis and have a great record out. Should be fun.

We're number 120 in Billboard this week--thanks so much for buying the record and telling friends about it.

I'm drowning in a sea of e-mail, so be patient with me on responses.

NOW PLAYING

CRACKER--The Golden Age. What a great new record. The slow songs (especially BIG DIPPER) are amazing.

NOW READING--An anthropologist on mars--Oliver Sacks. Seven studies of neorlogically impaired patients. It sounds strange, but it's pretty interesting.

Well, that's it for now. We head out of Florida and up the East Coast later this week--we'll see you out on the road.

Peace,

Peter