water flowing underground

we are crossing the george washington bridge. cleare is behind the wheel in purple pants. heather is in the front seat in spearmint pants. smith is in back reading the new york times in jeans. viotti is in the back sewing a patch onto his pants, so he's not wearing any. it's a beautiful march day and we're listening to the talking heads.

this is day 4 of our tour with glenn tillbrook and the fluffers. we're doing 14 shows in 18 days with these guys, and it's off to a killer start.

now i will admit something:
the first few days of a tour always feel sort of like boot camp or fall pre-season, after a summer of goofing off and not running even though your coach warned you about that timed 2-mile run at the end of the first week. we're winded by our second song, random muscles ache, we bleed on our snazzy tour attire and we collapse into whatever makeshift sleeping arrangements we've got at the end of each day. so we've been dealing with a little bit of that for the past 3 nights - first in long island at the crazy donkey, then at the narrows in fall river, MA, and last night in ridgefield, CT. but i think it's safe to say that tonight or tomorrow will bring us over the hump, at which point we will shape-shift into a well-oiled, 3-piece-machine that feels neither fatigue nor pain. we're actually illegal in some countries. i'm not bragging, that's just plain fact. we're almost there...

anyway, back to the tour. it's safe to say glenn tillbrook and the fluffers are some of the kindest, most down-to-earth and hysterically funny individuals we've met in the last year of touring. we first met glenn last fall when we did some dates with 'squeeze,' the new wave/punk-pop band from the '80s that brought us the timeless hit, 'tempted,' among other pop gems. check 'em out:
that's glenn in the green pants. those of you who know us will know he shares our fashion sense, but that's just one of the things we have come to admire and adore about this incredibly talented individual. we could gush for another few paragraphs right now, but instead we'll space it out over the next 2 weeks of blogging. so you've got that to look forward to, loyal readers!

gosh but it's good to be back in the sled...
hope to see you soon!
the lead sled