lead sled said:

2011-10-24T21:54:00.001-07:00

Nova scotia to nyc. Holy crap.

2011-10-24T06:55:00.001-07:00

Farewell Nova Scotia you sea bound coast!

2011-10-14T17:40:00.001-07:00

Hanging with our omaha friends tonight :)

2011-10-08T15:31:00.001-07:00

"scholastic gig in WV!" live on Ustream. Come watch and chat! - ustre.am/fYWd (6:28pm)

2011-10-08T09:42:00.001-07:00

West virginia mountain mama. Take me home.

2011-09-30T15:55:00.001-07:00

Broadcasting from the mix studio! http://t.co/SFo8rtuI

2011-09-30T10:42:00.001-07:00

saxo-ma-phone!

AQUARIUM!!

2011-04-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

WOWWEEEEEEE!! we had the greatest stroke of luck last night in Minneapolis - we were doing our intro to 'sharks', in which heather typically mentions something about her life-long fear of the terrifying deep sea predator, and there happened to be an aquarium educator named dana in the audience. after the show she propositioned us - "meet me at the aquarium tomorrow" she said, "and i will teach you not to be afraid of sharks!" so what could we do?? we agreed!!

and what an amazing decision it was. here is our trip - in photos:

here we are entering the "SEA LIFE" exhibit - it was in the mall of america! another first for most of us.

this is a super creepy jelly-belly-fish!

that's a slimey grimey eel-man hiding there!!

this is a super sweet adorable sea horse!!

THIS WAS THE PART WHERE HEATHER WAS THE MOST BRAVE!! and the most terrified...

it was such a fantastic trip!! look how happy we are (also pictured is Lennon, the drummer from Ha Ha Tonka and recent inductee into the Spring Standards Top Pals Hall of Fame):

SUCH GREAT TIMES! THANK YOU DANA!!
love,
jhj

Zenith Cafe, Pittsburgh PA

2011-04-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

hey folks, heather here.
i love my new iPhone for many reasons but mainly because it lets me take pictures of lovely places - places like the zenith cafe in pittsburgh, PA, where we enjoyed an absolutely delicious lunch yesterday. formatting this blog is a headache so i'm gonna leave it a bit haphazard, but you'll get the idea. observe:

each table had its own unique, colorful aesthetic, complete with tablecloths, place-mats and vintage dinnerware.

look how you can see me in the mirror through the front door! oh and the bathroom was all owl-themed. we were OWL about it!! PUNS!!

oh and did i mention there's a flea market-style vintage shop attached to the restaurant?? yeah. it was really awesome. you should go here next time you're in pittsburgh - it's a no brainer.

that's all for now friends.
xojhj

the skinny

2011-04-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

ok so now we're gonna tell the story now of how we got kicked off of a tour once. if you're in the know then you already know who this tour was with (if you don't know, just scroll through our facebook wall...), but in the interest of maintaining some semblance of professionalism we're going to call the party in question "JENNIFER". you know, to protect the innocent. like in dragnet.

full disclosure: we're not gonna tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth so help us god right here on the internet. too dangerous, too immortal. we'll tell bits and pieces here but the full play by play must remain protected. cause it's just the right thing to do.

basically, JENNIFER thought we were too chatty. we were flappin' our lips too much with nice fans and people who wanted to buy things from us and one night she decided to make a not very nice comment about it during her set. obviously, we were not very happy about that decision. so we talked about it after the show and both parties simply could not see the other's point of view. it was like that scene in 'translations' (a brian friel play) where the two lovers are talking in different languages, except minus the romantic part. now you get it!

so the next night, after playing a rockin' second-to-last show with JENNIFER, we found out that she didn't want us to play the final show in Charlottesville. we had been kicked off! we felt like rebels, we bought motorcycles immediately and began carrying switch blades. but here's where the real triumph began - we happened to know we had some pals coming out to the show in Charlottesville, including some members of a middle school class whose teacher introduced them to our music and was going to accompany them to the show. so we had to act fast - we immediately started calling anyone and everyone we knew and within a few hours of being kicked off the show in Charlottesville, we had another show booked in Charlottesville!! SWEET SWEET VICTORY!! it was awesome. and we lived happily ever after.

so there you have it folks! bet you didn't know we were such badasses.

sugar sweet kisses and ponies forever,
jhj

Ha Ha WWWHHHAAAAAA???? Tonka.

2011-04-06T11:19:00.000-07:00

Some things must be said,

Ha Ha Tonka is the name of the band that we are currently on tour with.
They are comprised of four incredibly kind and talented individuals.
Their Tour Manager/sound engineer is named James.
That makes three James' on one tour.
This is too many.
Two of them will have to go.
May the longest haired, beard-having-one with the last name Smith win...

just sayin'.

On another note... we played 'The Intersection' again last night.
and fewweeeee... what an interesting show.

Here's my impression of the first 3 songs...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOEeeeeeEEEEEEEOoooooOOOOOoooEEEEEee..

(thanks supposed to symbolize ear bleedingly loud feedback...)

After we climbed that mountain, the show started to look up.
Then we got to hear Ha Ha Tonka rock out.
they sure can sing and play.

If you are coming to any of the shows on this tour, get ready for an mind melting eye popping music loving fest.

Well, that's it for now. short and to the point...
well, I guess not straight to the point... but we got there in the end...

~JHJ

Denton.

2011-03-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

Has anyone ever met another James Smith?
People tend to laugh when Smith introduces himself using his full name.
Well, laugh, or say "wait, really?...James Smith?"
sometimes followed by... "like John Smith?..but James?"

James will respond... "Yeah, sounds common, but have you ever, in your life, met another one?"
Then there is a pause, and "hey wait, yeah, never"

He still holds true to this response. But last night came pretty close to debunking his entire defense.
The sound man at 'Dans Silver leaf'?

... Jimmy Smith.

But he does not go by James.... FEW.

We had actually met Jimmy the last time we came through Denton. A really nice sound engineer. And an engineer through and through. He was all about sound the last time we came through...a perfectionist, if you will.

The last time we were in Denton he came up to us after the show and said, "you guys were really really great... when you first came in, and were all so nice, I was like... 'ah crap these guys are gonna suck', cause the bands who are really nice, usually suck"

We became fast friends, and when were were back this time (though he wasn't doing sound for us) he set us up with an incredibly competent sound guy, by the name of Coy.

We got permission to set up early (always a plus when your set up is a musical version of the popular children's game "Mouse Trap") and even had time afterwards to go and check out some other music before we did our sound check.

The show went great. One for the books in fact. It was one of those shows where the sound, energy of the crowd and tightness of these three squid and the guppy (Noah) all came together and felt great.

After the show, we went to see more music.
such good music.
This is the second of three festivals that we're played with Mavis Staples.
We're basically best friends by now.

And now some pictures.

Silver Leaf stage.

Mavis.Mister Heavenly (Michael Cera on bass)

no explanation necessary

Until next time,
~JHJ

Arkansas, cigarette smoke and a one mand Band.

2011-03-10T10:21:00.000-08:00

Here we be.
We fearsome three.
In Arkansas to play for thee.

the end.

What a Nutso Showzo. We pay homage to all of the bands and singers of the past that had to play in smokey clubs. If you kept your voice...we bow to you.
After a 17 hour sound check with "Buzz Galore" (our new touring companion), we started playing our first show of this SxSW tour.
Not bad. Not bad at all.

After the show, we cleared some of the stage so that the next band could set up.

The next band was called "Noise Letter." In this band was a hug-friendly, kind spirited, young man, his guitar and an ipod full of pre made garage band tracks.

Watching this gentleman play was a site to behold. You could almost picture him in an arena playing to thousands.
just to list a few of the rock n' roll moves...

The 'tongue out' move, the ole 'foot up on the monitor' move, the 'in the crowd with just a mic' move, the 'sexy stare to the girl in the front row' move, and the ole 'thank you Fayetteville' move.

He was a generous and kind spirited guy, and his company was much appreciated and enjoyed.

We found out that we were going to stay upstairs with our new friend/promoter, Haley. Again, another kind spirited generous individual.

Let it be known, Fayetteville, we like your people. Not a bad egg did we meet in our 16 hours there.

When we awoke in the morning there was a chill in the air, but buds on the trees. A beautiful cloudless day.

Before we left for Denton, TX, we needed our coffee and 'in-town' experience.
Off to the pre discovered "Kafe" down the street. We downed a delish cup of joe then off we set to a grocery store for more breakfasty goods.

Look what WE found.

It's a Basketball...

Thanks Fayetteville.
Denton... You've got your work cut out for you.

~JHJ

you know it's bad when...

2011-03-09T11:52:00.000-08:00

...23 hours of driving in 2 days feels manageable.

HELLO! we are currently in missouri. yesterday we were in new york. skies were blue yesterday but today they have been overcast. we ate a sit-down dinner at wendy's last night - it was romantic. we stayed in a very inexpensive hotel and ate a delicious continental breakfast this morning, completely with oddly dented hard-boiled eggs. we saw the st. louis arc thing and drove right past it. that was sad - we like st. louis.

tonight we are playing in fayetteville, AR - we've never been there but it seems like a pretty rockin' place. or anyway it will be once we done with it. BOOYAH.

this tour will be fun because we get to be both musicians and super-fans. we've been pouring over the schedules of 35 Conferette and SXSW, circling shows we want to see, making lists and strategies for maximum intake over the next 2 weeks - so many talented people in one gigantic state. how did texas get so lucky?

like you lots,
JHJ

Inselhaus

2011-02-20T10:51:00.000-08:00

The skies were cold, the college streets were deserted, the frat yards were filled with last nights empty miller lite cans and we were searching for our gig in "the parking lot behind the old abandoned cinema" (direct quotation). We eventually found the deserted (haunted) cinema, which led us to our destination. We were going to do some ghost-busting but then we realized we forgot our proton packs - and furthermore, we had a gig to play.

Cleare assembled gear while Heather proudly tagged our new road cases with spray paint (the seed of street art having been planted during a recent viewing of 'Exit Through the Gift Shop'). Meanwhile, Smith did an inventory check (isn't this fascinating?!) and Noah spoke to the promoter of the next nights show in Milwaukee, only to find out that the gig had to be canceled for ambiguous reasons. Sorrow.

We played the show and had a grand ol' time. Smith became the secret crowd favorite because he had unknowingly worn a hoody that wielded the initials "V.I.T." which was a local school at which a few of the audience members were currently employed. Smith claims it was an incredible coincidence and that he had received the sweatshirt from a friend a few years ago. Pshh-yeah right, we all know it was planned. Brown noser...

After the show we headed on a serious mission for food. Heather was on the verge of collapse and was threatening to eat all our faces if she didn't get some grub in her tummy asap. We went into one of the only places open in town and were greeted with the words "kitchen's closed". Heather went on a murdering spree with her eyes (we all joined at this point). Luckily, not too soon after we found a diner and got to ordering far too much food for not very much money! (holllaaaaaa)

After our bellies were full we headed to our digs for the night. It was a lovely Bed and Breakfast called "Inselhaus." If we were B+B reviewers, we would give it an 5 star, A+ rating. We were greeted by Dorothee (the owner/operator), told where to park and directed to our rooms.

What service. What nice rooms. What delicious food. It felt like we were home, and on the road that is hard to come by.

So if you are EVER in Macomb, IL, you have to look it up. It's amazing and relaxing and beautiful and special.

In the morning we had coffee brought to us in the living room - picture Smith reading "Treasure Island" fireside in a huge chair with a piping hot cup of joe. Pretty great, right?

Then when everyone was up it was breakfast time...

just a visual taste for ya...

Oh yeah did we mention robes?

All we're saying is...stay there.

That's it for now,
~JHJ

Pancho.

2011-02-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at 6:30pm - we pull up in front of a Mexican Restaurant with enthusiastic Christmas decorations still shining from every window.

Smith: Is this the place?
Noah: Yeah.
Smith: Do we know the parking situation?
Noah: I'm.....no...

Enter Pancho

**Loudest Whistle ever**

Pancho: You. park. HERE.
Us: oh, ok.

After a forceful, yet pleasant greeting (strong handshakes all around) we were led into the venue and given a tour.

Pancho: The stage, bar and you come with gear. Here.

Then, with a slight smirk, he extended a single finger, said something that none of us could understand and walked over to a few switches on the wall. Not taking his eyes off us for a second (still smirking) he flicked the switch and said "if you like..."

In an instant the small Mexican bar/restaurant/venue was transformed into a hip hoppin' laser light showin' club. Multi-colored lights dancing and zooming across the walls and ceiling. Lasers shooting all over the bar, reflecting off and through the liquor bottles. Pancho was very pleased.

Later that evening we would see the very same Pancho dancing behind the bar while playing loud rhythmic instruments slightly off beat (to the chagrin of whichever band was playing live a few feet away). He had many other surprises up his sleeve, including some of the strangest bar tricks we had ever seen involving two glasses filled with water, a lolly pop, 2 pencils, 4 straws, 2 tooth picks and 2 forks.

The climax of the night was when Pancho insisted we do shots with him and proceeded to pour glasses of possibly the most repulsive yellowish liquid we have ever tasted. He would not tell us what was in it. It was a secret recipe.

First day of tour. Hitting the ground running.

Until next time,
~JHJ

this weekend

2011-01-30T09:46:00.000-08:00

this weekend was incredible. completely unforgettable and humbling. singing 'forever young' behind the swell season and alongside so many folk legends, looking up at the 3rd balcony and listening to 3,500 people join in on the chorus - just perfect. a perfect moment in life.

thank you all for listening to us, and supporting us as much as you do all the time. we never could have made it to a weekend like this one without all of you - we are so lucky.

eastward ho,
jhj

michigan!

2011-01-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

hey everybodies,

we are in michigan! drove here straight through snow and sleet yesterday, after a battle with brooklyn's unleashed winter fury and the over-priced hardware store snow shovels. the highlight of the 12 hour drive (at least for me) was the twizzlers i ate and the heated twitter debate about the merits of twizzlers vs. twix. interesting stuff...

whenever we play in southern michigan we stay at the summer camp my grandparents have been running for the last 50+ years, located 30 mins outside ann arbor. it's really strange to be there in the off season, when it's completely empty and covered in snow and looks like this:

camp was always the highlight of every summer, my brother and sisters and i would spend a whole month there just living the dream. it's kind of amazing how my life has brought me back there so much over the last year - just have to get a killer game of capture the flag going one of those times and then my life will be truly complete.

we are driving towards ann arbor right now - SO excited for tonight's show! we're only playing 4 songs but we're sharing the stage with THE AVETT BROTHERS, vienna teng, susan werner, the paper raincoat and a slew of other insanely talented artists. is that really how you spell "slew"? what a weird word. EXCITEMENT!!

we're gonna try to make it to zingerman's today, one of ann arbor's finest offerings according to many reliable sources (including sean watkins of 'nickel creek' fame, who first told us of its glories). saturday night we get to kick back and enjoy another amazing lineup, including the swell season and mavis staples. what an unbelievable weekend!

later gators,
heather

EP

2011-01-11T09:04:00.000-08:00

Guys, guys, guys, guys!!!!

We're actually doing it!
it's OOOONNNN!!!

We are in the studio recording some tunes in the hopes of finishing the first installment of a two ep collection so soon.

So far, so amazing. We have been losing sleep over the excitement.
So now that we've checked in.
How are you all?

yup. we're asking.
how are you?

~JHJ

Ho.Ly. Crud.

2010-11-26T07:01:00.000-08:00

We just crossed the PA boarder.
Ho. Ly. Crud buckets.

What a wondrous feeling.
Here is a brief recap of the days gone by.

Florida brought no alligators our way. Damn you Orlando. Damn you.
But Thanksgiving did bring us Turkeys.

We spent the night in Atlanta on Thanksgiving eve.
Knowing that we had about 11 hours of driving that we wanted to get under our belts on Thanksgiving.
The next morning, we started out with an amazingly scrumptious breakfast... full of stuffing, bread pudding, biscuits, gravy, sausages, mimosa's, coffee and veggie bacon for the pescatarians of the group **eeeaww eeawww....fingers point towards Heather**
And for those that have never seen cooked veggie bacon...
Here...

We set off with our bellies full and our hearts all a'flutter.
Our goal... Hagerstown, Maryland.

On our lazy Thanksgiving day journey we saw one of the strangest things that we thought one could see on this day.
While driving down the highway we saw a HUGE wild and fully living turkey trotting into the woods from the road. We felt like it had to be one of three things.
The turkey flipping everyone the bird (budumching) while saying... "SUCKERSS!!!!"
Second, a turkey reenactment of "Cool Hand Luke".
and the final possibility... a trap for humans... Slyly asking us to follow it into the safe and warm woods as if to promise an easy feast. But when you arrive... you are greeted by an army of turkeys and put into a pot of boiling veggies and prepared for their thanksgiving Day feast!
Turkeys 1, Humans.... well I guess we're still up...

This came from boredom along the way...

Our other mission was to find an eatery for our special meal.
Our choices were slim. But we found it. and boy was it ever fancy. Cracker Barrel.

We hope your Turkey day was as lovely and strange as ours was.
Much love to you all.
we are so very thankful for each of you.

Much love,
~JHJ

Po-Boy

2010-11-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

I have one and only mission while driving from New Orleans to Orlando.
CATCH ME A GATOR!

Hear me out...

I will do one of these 5 things...

1.) catch and tame a gator for our live show.
2.) catch a gator on the flip video.
3.) get a picture with my head precariously inside an alligators open mouth.
4.) surf using a gator as my board.
5.) just see and alligator.

OK, OK.. some of these are more likely than others...but so help you Florida, if I don't even see one...

I do NOT want to have to settle for the taxidermied head I just saw at a rest stop. It is unfair to both me and gator.

I'm actually hoping to have captured one before the end of this blog so that I can attach a picture or a video.
We. Will. See.

On a completely different note... we love Joey Ryan and Meg & Dia. They are all the nicest.

I've said it before...being on the road with good people makes a tour what it is.
And of course it helps if you can get your groove on to the music as well.

So here it is, time to drive it home:

Get. Their. Music.

Or even better, come and see all of us live on this tour!

Most of the venues see us coming and know we mean business... they put these up as we entered.

Want some incentive?
1) We are giving away 4 free songs and "punch cards" (like coffee club cards. The more you get punched, the cooler the prize.)
2) Joey Ryan is giving away a free song if you sign up on his mailing list at the show.
3) Meg & Dia have a brand new ep out that you can only get at the shows.

That's my spiel and I'm stickin' to it.

Thank you for your kind eyes,
until we meet again,

~JHJ

p.s. HEATHER SPOTTED A GATOR!!!

The adventures continue...

2010-11-18T12:46:00.000-08:00

Heading through West Texas, the daring 5 set off after a delicious dinner in El Paso.
Pedal to the metal, teeth glarin', tunes blarin' and all of us preparin'...for the journey ahead.

When three lanes became 2...
2 became 1...
funneled into a single and organized line.
Closer and closer to a brightly lit complex.
Men in uniform, dogs, guns, and us.

Man in uniform-
"where you coming from?"
Noah-
"umm... Scottsdale."
man-
"just the two of you?"
Noah-
"umm... no, 5 of us"
man-
"where you headin?"
Noah-
"umm... San Antonio"
Man-
"ok, you've been flagged by the dog, could you just pull over to the right up here"
Noah
"umm... sure"

We pulled over, we're told to turn off the car, take the keys out of the ignition and exit the vehicle.
We did as we were ordered.
"We are going to search the car... keep your hands out of your pockets and follow me this way"
We were all lined up. I, (Smith) feared a firing squad, but instead I starting asking really pertinent and topical questions... like.. for instance...

"Is it normally this cold at night in New Mexico?"
or...
"Do you ever get Cyotes comin' up and startin trouble with the dogs?"
or...
"Are you just a check point or do you have a truck weigh station too?" (got em with that one... they felt inadequate... we all sensed it)

The tension grew as the search continued...

...and continued...
We began to fear that something had perhaps been planted on us that we had no idea was illegal. Like a foreign fruit, or a perhaps a rare orchid that is actually used for recreational drug use.

At this point... who knew.

Then the leader of the men of men looked at us and said...

"If you could follow us this way..."

Of course we complied.

We were led into a warm building and patted down (except for Heather, who was very politely asked to empty her pockets...)
James, Noah, Joey and myself felt a lot closer to the uniformed men after that.
A lot closer.

Then we were just asked to sit on a bench and wait while they went through our van looking for aforementioned orchids.

After what seemed like an hour, we were released. Perhaps with a small security checkpoint fan base.

Don't worry about it...

until next time,
~JHJ

racing!

2010-11-17T15:16:00.000-08:00

AND THEY'RE OFF!
The train is much longer, but we have guile, cunning and our speedy sprinter.

So there we are... barreling toward the train at a break-neck pace.
This might be the end folks!
We aren't stopping.
that train certainly wont be stopping.
chugga chugga chugga... plowing forward.
Will we clear the back of the train if we stay at our current speed?
or will we collide with a chorus of vocally produced crash sounds?!?!
closer, closer....CLOSER!

NEYOOOWWMMMEE!!! WE MADE IT over the train track over pass bridge.
but it was good to know that if we were on a collision course with a train crossing our path... we would have made it out unscathed!

Ladies and Gentlemen... you have just witnessed the birth of imaginary situation Adrenalin junkies.

Until we meet again,
~JHJ

'The True Tale of the Tail'

2010-11-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

So this might be a long one. Buckle up my friends...
Boy, do we have a story for you. But I must start out by telling you of some amazing peeps...
We are currently touring with Joey Ryan (www.joeyryan.net) and Meg & Dia (www.meganddia.com)
So far, they have been a joy to tour with.
But let me take a second to speak about Joey, who will be joining us in Peggy Sue (new vehicles name) for the duration of the tour. We might even force him to post a blog on the Lead Said Said.
He is a wonderful musician. If you haven't heard his music, please give it a listen. He has been playing shows with one Kenneth Pattengale. This duo is a force to be reckoned with. No joke, I (JS) have not seen a live show as impressive in quite some time. If you ever get any chance in the world to catch a live show, you have my 100% recommendation!

Now, after the blatant gushing...on to the story at hand.

We played a house party at our friends house in LA so we could spend time with friends, play all sorts of music and drink....juice...

When the riotous affair was just about through and a few people were leaving...they walked past the neighbor's car and heard the most pathetic meowing of all time. These kind hearts started searching for the source of these scared noises - to no avail. Eventually they noticed a little note placed under the cars wipers. It simply read: "There is a cat in your car".

They came upstairs and got a few people for a second opinion. More people came down until the entire party had been relocated and was huddled around this car. There was definitely a traumatized cat somewhere in this car.
The car belonged to the host's neighbor...so our hosts went to their neighbors door and knocked (2:30am).

When he finally came to the door, the neighbor responded: "Yeah, when I was at the shop earlier today the mechanic said told me there was a cat stuck in there. But he couldn't find it. Sooooo."

Sooooo indeed. We were floored, but the cat still needed to be rescued! So we asked him to open his hood. He complied and the search began.

After 30 min. we realized we were going to need a professional. We called AAA and to the rescue they came! The AAA man arrived and, after some coaxing (rescuing a cat from a car is not a normal AAA task), he flew into action... unscrewing screws, bending back panels and shining flashlights into every nook and cranny the car had. After a while we got visual confirmation - we could SEE A TAIL!!!

Now we all meant business...
and as in any situation of peril ... The girls got girlier and the boys got boyie-er.
Girls awing and covering their eyes, and the boys shouting out commands, getting their heads under the car, pulling apart pieces of plastic and lots of pointing. I mean, LOTS of pointing.

Then...
Tail...
Paw...
another paw.
screaming...
meowing...
another paw...
last paw...
no head yet...
yowling...
HEAD!! (still attached... fewwww)

It was a kitten.

WE DID IT!! APPLAUSE!

It was stuck inside a compartment near the engine of the car. We have no idea how it could have possible gotten in there, but can only assume it got in there for some warmth. We took it to the vet and got it checked out.

Broken leg.
Now it has a cast.
Our hosts are going to keep it.

So now, may we introduce to you..."wheelie" (still working on the name - any suggestions??).

And that, my friends, is a happy ending of team work and tails.

~JHJ

p.s. speaking of cars... thank you to which ever lovely person gave us this lipstick love on our wind shield after the Hermosa Beach show.

Our new Vehicle

2010-11-10T11:18:00.000-08:00

We finally found it folks.
behold, our new touring vehicle!

We wonder if people in Salt Lake City, Utah, still see the mountains?
Truly, these are some amazing mountains here.
This is where we are blogging from currently. (it's stupid how amazing technology is.)

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=40.371548,-111.803058%20%28Veterans%20Memorial%20Hwy,%20American%20Fork,%20UT%2084003,%20USA%29

I suppose it might be like the skyscrapers in NYC. They never get any less amazing. I wonder if the mountains hold their glory for all its residents...

OK, so here it is... Whats the thing in your life that never loses its 'amazingness'

Heather: Seeing the clouds from above in a plane.
Noah: Going home.
Cleare: Seeing the Ocean.
Smith: How small baby's fingers are.

Yours?...

Oh yeah, and this was our breakfast... compliments of IHOP.

~JHJ

A trasnscription.

2010-11-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

And now to start off the blogging of this tour... a transcription of the sites along this road.

white dotted lines, Fields, grain processing plant, Exit 25 Monroe, Bridge, yellow merge sign, telephone poles (and wires), silo, red barns, cars, car, cars, truck, Prairie city 7, Des Moines 33, hawk, lone tree, police car, slower moving scenery, life size wooden bear statue, hill, dip, hill, dip, water tower, mile 10, rumble strips, bird, brick house, truck for sale, army of yellow school buses, speed zone ahead, speed limit 55, Southeast Polk high school, stadium, acres for sale, red traffic light, NE 80 st, green traffic light, mile 7, Key stone savings bank, more road, Jack Miller Christmas Trees, Deery Brothers Chevrolet.

Thrilled yet?
Thought you'd like that...
good bye for now.

~JHJ

p.s. Cleare was in a terrible accident.

Al. most. th. e. r. e......

2010-09-12T16:46:00.000-07:00

So ladies and gentlemen.
We done did it.
We are 11 miles from home after a 3 week tour.
Let us compare feelings that are similar to being 11 miles away and knowing the traffic will cause it to be a 2 hour journey.

It's like when you have to pee pretty badly and then you see the bathroom and the feeling changes from pretty badly to imminent bladder failure.

kinda like that.

It's kinda like if you were stranded in the desert with no water, but you had a computer with the most beautiful waterfall screen saver.

a little bit like that.

It's kind of like meeting Shakira at a bar, hitting it off really well, writing her number on your hand, dancing with her in the rain, politely putting her in a cab, and then realizing her number washed off in the rain.

exactly like that.

We've had quite a ride on this one, folks... we've laughed, we've cried, we've died. no not really. it just rhymed and I'm going loopy from being in the car for 12 hours.

We have a few more one off dates in NY, DE, and VA. so come and see us go insane.

We love you all, and will catch you on the flip flop.
Until next time.

~JHJ

michigan!

2010-09-10T21:49:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentleman..

Tonight we shall be talking about Heathers childhood.

Once upon a time there was a young lass named Heather Robb.
This young lady was raised with the guile and cunning of a fox... the wisdom of an owl and the reflexes of a mongoose. In the town in which she was born there were few of her kind.
The closest... a straight up wolfhound. Literally a wolf/hound.
She was raised to understand the ways of the world but to be wary and protective of her human counterparts.

She's a shecat. She's a maneater. Woah, here she comes. Watch out, mean soundmen - watch out, cat-calling strangers. She will Chew. You. Up.

SO AAANNYYWWAAYYY...
We just got done a show at the Ark and good garsh dangnabit, it was a fun show.
We missed our good friends 'My Dear Disco', who had a show of their own a few hours away from us. Sadness fills our heart at this, but the night was special nonetheless. We got to see one of our favorite people ever, Vienna Teng, who just started her first year in a Master's program at U of M. She's way smart. And just ridiculously talented. Good people.

Now we're on a porch with warm things to eat and drink and we are happy. It feels like fall - it's even a little too cold for us, truth be told.

Autumn is nice.
jhj

2010-09-10T10:47:00.001-07:00

The Ark @ 8pm tonight in ann arbor! The air is crisp and we feel like rocking :) join us!

we met them in st. louis

2010-09-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

we love st. louis now. we liked it a lot before but now we LOVE it. last night's show was so fun - off-broadway is a great club, ryan is a great sound man, john is a great bartender, steve is a great club owner - just an all around cracker jack team! also, our friends from union tree review (a rad local band) came out to show their support and arranged a whole afterparty for post-show fun times! it was sweet. there were many highlights, including a full-scale dance party to cee-lo's hot new single ('f#*k you!') and jay-z's 'empire state of mind.' it was pretty much the best thing ever. we also got some amazing potato chips (billy goat chips!) and drank delicious root bear (fitz's!). a killer night from start to finish!

also, smith finally got a new look:

tonight we are playing in chicago at a new (to us) venue called mayne stage - we will miss good ol' schubas, but it'll be fun to see a new part of the city. and even though we're not playing there, noah is determined to go by schuba's for a hefty portion of their life-changing mac'n'cheese. he still hasn't forgiven smith for taking an unbidden bite back in june...

come say hi windy city! we like you a lot too!
jhj

World's First Rodeo

2010-09-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

That's right, we just passed it. The World's first rodeo.
Many people think the first Rodeo was in Pecos, TX in 1883.
However, the first rodeo was actually held 14 years earlier in Dear Trail, CO in 1869.

So, put that in your Smipe and Poke it, Texas.

We've experienced a lot in the last few days. Everything from 24498237423 hour drives and camping next to a very nice man that Smith thought was going to turn into the "Camp Site Killer", to beautiful landscapes and stories of smashing furniture with Tomahawks (we're fairly certain that some mind altering substances were being used at the time).

In these travels we discovered, and all concur, that route 70 might be one of the most beautiful roads that we've seen thus far (and we've done seen a lot of roads). We all have dreams of biking on the bike trails that run perfectly alongside the road someday. Perhaps when we all win the lottery and are able to buy the $2.5 Mil. houses that are listed in the "Vail Daily"...

On this one road, the landscape was constantly changing - from desert to harsh rocky canyons:

to beautiful pine tree covered mountains and rushing rivers, all in the span of a few hours of driving East. It was mesmerizingly beautiful.
And you can become one with all of this beauty with the newest form of American hiking.

We played a chill show in Denver last night to an intimate crowd of supportive Denver folks. We were all beat from camping the night before and when we started talking about the exhaustion levels of our bodies we were met with a mind-blowing explanation: the high altitude in Denver actually takes a physical toll on unsuspecting out-of-towners! Who would have thunk it. Bein' higher makes your body sleepy! It also makes breathing difficult, which makes singing harder. Also, you have to to be careful when you're drinking in the higher altitudes. One beer will make your "6 beer speech impediment" come a knockin' quite a bit earlier. Fascinating.

So, them be our findings of the last few days.
We hope you are all well and excited about the autumn chill creeping in.

and now, into a man made wormhole and hopefully out the other side.

Many smiles to you all,
~JHJ

fast food

2010-09-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

chipotle is nothing compared to baja fresh. period. and in-n-out? nothing comes close. what does the west coast know about fast food that the east coast hasn't figured out yet? this is not a rhetorical question - please help us understand!

NYC to LA

2010-09-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

We're all done and rested.
Each with a nap of different intensity.
Last night was spent BBQing and ping-ponging.

On the Agenda today.
Be in LA.
Play a show at The Echo.
Be in LA.

If any of you have been to LA, you will probably know what we mean when we say this.
What a magical place to visit.
Full of sun and characters.
Places of indescribable nature.
And the thing that we find ourselves noticing the most?
everyone and everything moves slower.

NYC is fast and interesting.
LA is Slow and interesting.

Two coasts, two vibes.
If you haven't been here before... take a trip with a friend.

Resident watch dog, Nikki...

One question for everyone...
If you could be one fictitious animal, what would you be?

~JHJ

if we survive this drive...

2010-08-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

...we can do ANYTHING AT ALL. i mean it. when we woke up this morning in denton, TX and plugged in Los Angeles as our final destination, our GPS system just flashed 'are you f@*king kidding me??' that was all she said. i know, i'd never seen that before either but i guess that what happens when you put in a location 1,400 miles away.

And now at 9:19pm after filling the oil and wiper fluid?
Drum role my fine fluttering friends... 830 Miles. Holler back to you.

And we are NOT. I repeat, NOT calling it a night.
With Smith having just finished his shift, Heather takin' over and Noah and James Sleepin' in the back preparing for their shifts... this is gonna be one for the books.

There certainly will be a "Hush" falling on LA tomorrow.
(see what I did there?... that's a song... of ours, that we sing...)
BOOYA!

And now some eye treats...

New York...
to New Mexico...

Thinking about putting one of these up in Central Park.

~JHJ

ahhhhhhh!

2010-08-29T15:48:00.001-07:00

we're here! we're here! shoot. more than 2 days passed. we're sorry dangit.

the last two nights we've played really fun shows with a great band called 'civil twilight.' the first was in austin - WE LOVE AUSTIN! we swam at barton springs, got some sage hot sauce advice, ate until we nearly burst and got to play to a full room at stubb jr's! our dear friends danielle and elizabeth were kind enough to house us and didn't give us a hard time for coming in at nearly 3am! now that's friendship.

last night was in tulsa - our first time in oklahoma! we had a blast playing at cain's and enjoying some of the local flavors, you know like greek salads and coors. we met a ton of wonderful people and one in particular, our new friend chris, made the night super special by offering to let us crash at his house. new friend and comfortable lodging all in one fell swoop! after the show we grabbed a drink with the fellas from 'civil twilight' and partook in a hilarious game of pool with some extremely memorable locals. it was great. this morning we SLEPT IN for the first time in days and ate a scrumptious brunch of waffles and scrambled eggs (all homemade by the aforementioned chris) and watched 'total recall.'

i guess you could say the last 72hrs have been pretty great. touring is fun.
jhj

new phobia

2010-08-26T10:40:00.001-07:00

so we have a fear of bulldozers now.
dozerphobia i guess you could call it.
why you may ask?

within the first 2 minutes of this tour, the first big tour we've done with our beautiful new sprinter we might add, we found ourselves in the middle of an action movie.

PICTURE THIS:
----
construction site.

the flag lady told us to go...so we went.

half way through...this HUGE crane arm comes swinging into our lane.

we skidded and swerved to miss it. we screamed like 6 year old girls.

time stood still as we awaited the seemingly inevitable contact of metal on metal.

miraculously, there was no ear-shattering CRASH. we opened our eyes in time to see the crane arm backing off.

we convinced our hearts to start beating again and drove on...smarter.
---

can you blame us for our dozerphobia? after 2 catastrophic vehicular failures in the last year and a half, a rogue crane arm would have been the last straw. we all would have throw up our hands and found jobs as accountants or teachers or anything where a crane arm can't set fire to all your dreams.

YAY FOR HAPPY ENDINGS TO ACTION MOVIES! THANK YOU DIE HARD!
texas is hot and it's boiling our brains,
jamesheatherjames

A DECLARATION

2010-08-25T08:15:00.000-07:00

To our beloved, dedicated and abandoned readers,

It should be easy to keep a blog. It should be as simple as typing a few amusing, anecdotal nothings every few days and throwing a picture in every so often for good measure.

You’d think it would be easy. You’d think anyone could do it.

Well let me tell you right now – you’d be wrong to think these things.

Keeping this road blog current has proven to be one of the most insurmountable challenges of our career thus far. It easily outweighs hauling gear, driving for hours on end and working day jobs to make ends meet. It reminds me a little bit of flossing – so simple and yet it always seems like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to run a waxed piece of string between your teeth every morning and night. Who’s got 3 extra minutes lying around these days? Not in this economy, am I right?

So all of this is a long-winded way of apologizing to those of you who dutifully check this road blog and are continually disappointed at the dearth of new entries. We know we’re letting you down and we don’t feel good inside about it. Now, we’re not gonna stand here (so to speak) and make any promises we can’t keep – we’re no perez. But we would like to make a pledge for the tour we are embarking on today. That pledge is this:

WE PROMISE TO KEEP THIS BLOG UPDATED AT LEAST EVERY OTHER DAY FOR THE DURATION OF THIS TOUR, WHICH STARTS TODAY, AUGUST 25 AND ENDS SEPTEMBER 12TH. WE MAKE THIS PLEDGE OUT OF LOVE FOR OUR READERS, WHO HAVE STOOD BY US THROUGH MONTHS OF SILENCE.

Thank your friends for helping us make this terrifying yet essential step forward as bloggers. We won’t let you down.

Until tomorrow (or the day after tomorrow at the very latest),
jamesheatherjames

WOOHOO!

2010-05-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

First and foremost... congrats to Mandabean! the answers to our quiz were as follows...
1.) Heather drank the cologne.
2.) Smith was a child gymnast.
3.) Cleare got the stitches.

SO WELL DONE TO YOU!!!!
and you're prize?... a poem in your honor.

So, Mandabean now you know,
of how we came to grow,
from little ones with tiny heads,
to big ones in trouble with the feds.

So now we're on to another show that we didn't have listed in Ann Arbor, MI. (circus bar and billiards)
be prepared for table dances and college girls drinking as much red bull and vodka that they can get their little hands on.
so into the fray we go!
until next time our faithful rock n' rollerseseses.

2010-05-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

Iowa soundtrack...

Salt N Peppa
Snoop Dog

appropriate?
we think so...

games.

2010-05-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

Got a game for you.

Match these three "who done whats" to these three names.
Cleare, Heather, Smith

1.) accidentally drank cologne during a joke.
2.) was a leotard-wearing child gymnast.
3.) tripped, hit head and had to get stitches for trying to run to the bathroom with pants around ankles.

eh?eh?eh?

we're on our way to Ohio!!! see you there.

~The Dead Lead Sled Said.

SXSW!!!!

2010-03-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

WE ARE HAVING SO MUCH FUN CAN'T SIT IN FRONT OF A COMPUTER ANYMORE WE WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING WHEN THE FESTIVAL ENDS!!! YOU'RE ALL GREAT PEOPLE!

We be in Buffalo country now!

2010-03-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

and now, some visual stimulation.

In life, there are moments that exist in such ludicrous perfection that you feel as though each breath is as filling as a thanksgiving day feast.

These moments danced around us during our stay in Kentucky.

We didn't have a place when we arrived in Lexington. So in an act of desperation we asked the audience, half way through our show, if anyone could put up 6 complete strangers for the night.
Much to our surprise, it worked. And thus, we were introduced to our new friends the Slaters.

Our sleepy souls were met with beds and couches. And in the morning our empty tummies and sore tour butts were met with breakfast and a hike through the woods.

What a beautiful rainy couple of days.

~The Lead Sled II

Aint the Mountains grand.

2010-03-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, our tour crew...

Noah Goldman...

"Crazy Horse"

Kate Stein...

"Party Pants"

Pete Lalish...

"Wild Fire"

Last night at 2:45 Am we convened to discuss sleeping arrangements... I mean SOMEONE had to sleep near Noah... But no one was budging. So banished he was to another building where the following scenario unfolded:

3:00 AM- Bed time.
4:00 AM- Strange scratching at door. Cat meows.
4:05 AM- Not sure how cat got into room...whose cat is this?
4:06 AM- Gets up to let cat out...cat scurries under bed in classic scared-e cat fashion.
4:10 AM-4:45AM- Multiple attempts to get cat out from under bed and out of room.
5:00 AM- Problem solved.
5:01 AM- Sleep.
8:30 AM- Cat wants to say good morning - loudly.
8:30-9:30 AM - With the cat soundtrack underscoring, our hero hopes that pretending to be asleep is almost as restful as actually being asleep.
9:30 AM - "Wakes up."
10:30 AM- Everyone in bus and on road.

ooohhhh the life of a tour manager for the Standards.

What beautiful country side... from the mountains of West Virginia to the horse races of Kentucky.

Much love to you all, and see you soon.

~The Lead Sled II

On our way.

2010-03-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, may we introduce to you our SXSW tour crew.

Our tour manager Noah Goldman;

Ferret wrestler, Lady bug rescuer (builds them little lady bug houses when they are lost in the world) and lady killer (no really... murderer...)

Our photographer Kate Stein;

Cave dweller, Cat fisher woman, and riot provoker. (remember France circa 1789.... all her.)

Our Music Guru Pete Lalish;

Artichoke heart ripper outer, evil destroyer, body painter (when we look like the blue man group at our shows you will know why.)

shit. is. going. to. go. down.

So let us start you off with a little story...

Last night we played in Easton, MD. what a place. great sound guy, good people, tiny stage.

During one of our tunes Smith plays the trumpet and decided to give the trumpet a good ole fashioned rock throw to Noah who was off stage.

here is a diagram of exactly what happened...

the trumpet it OK. James' rock ego is not.

Tonight we're headin' to "The Purple Fiddle" in WV. and these were our preperations...

9 am: wake up.
10 am: B-fast.
12 pm: go time.
12:01 pm: dance party.
12:03 pm: exhausted from dance party.

what can be expected at tonights show you might ask??
Rock, dancing, Rock-dancing, Dancing Rocks... and moonshine.

See you fools there and beyond.

~The Lead Sled II

back in action

2010-03-11T13:19:00.002-08:00

it's a new year! and a new tour is beginning! and we are going to be blogging people, so get your 4-D blog glasses out and clean those lenses - the standards are BACK!

2 tires in 2 daze

2009-06-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

yesterday started off in a normal fashion - we woke up in arlington, tx and readied ourselves for the 10 hour drive to nashville. we ate breakfast at a golden corral (eeewish), cozied up in the lead sled and started 'blues brothers.'

it wasn't until hour 7 that smith observed the huge rubber hangnail dangling off our rear driver-side tire. yipes. so we called our friendly neighborhood 'man-with-a-huge-truck-and-jack' and decided to pass the "5 to 50 minutes" (direct quote) by making this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rXun4neL6c

it was the ultimate lemons to lemonade situation.

so, we awoke this morning feeling ready for anything - we had, after all, overcome our first serious-on-the-road-van-trouble the previous day and what could possibly throw us for a curve now? we found out just south of the virginia border on I-81N, when suddenly we were driving 70mph on 3 wheels and a hub cap.

NEVER FEAR! JAMES CLEARE!

what a champ: james cleare steared our crippled sled to the shoulder without even breaking a sweat. traffic zooooomed by but he kept his cool and we got to a safe spot within moments. an hour later, a mechanic named doyle helped us put yesterday's tire back on for our very slow drive to sears. we were tempted to see 'up' in 3-D while we waited for our new tires but decided to grab a bite at garfields instead - we drew on the tablecloth because it was made of paper. very practical.

so now it's 2:30 and we're about 4 hours away from nyc. ahhh the unexpected bumps in the road....

...literally.

gotta love this east coast air,
the lead sled

arlington, tx

2009-06-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

cleare: stoic, vast

smith: aviators and the 80s

robb: mug-shot, overpass

drive it up and drive it in

2009-06-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

last night we saw 'hangover' (or is it 'the hangover'....can't remember) at a drive-in outside memphis, TN. now good gosh darn it, why isn't every movie theater a drive-in?? that is my question. there is absolutely no reason to see a movie inside when you can see one outside in the comfort and delight of your own car, be the lead sled or otherwise. it is absolute and pure bliss. we got ourselves some 'za, a mosquito coil (weird contraptions, but effective) and collapsed the backseat into a custom-made movie bed - it was perfection.

and that wasn't the only highlight of yesterday's tennessee adventure. check this out:

good times.

today we arrive in dear old little rock, where our arkansas family lives. we really love president bill clinton ave.

mugginess be damned! we will enjoy this midwesternsouthern jaunt!
the lead sled

i'm born anew in your genius

2009-06-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

well, we're sad to be missing david byrne in prospect park tonight. but the sled is a pretty darn good alternative...

we started the morning with 700+ miles to go. knoxville is FAR. but then we watched 'castaway' and realized hey, at least we have shoes and food and water and shelter and friends that aren't volleyballs and at least we're not engaged to helen hunt, that hussy, who goes and marries mr. big while we're away. so then we felt better about the drive.

we're heading southwest this week cowpeople. dodging tumbleweeds will be our game.

land for sale!
the lead sled

yyYYYYAARRrrrrggg.

2009-05-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

So here's our non-blogging excuse... ready for it?

Once upon a time, Heather was walking down the streets of NYC when she came upon a woman in rags who had just dropped her change all over the sidewalk. So naturally, Heather, being such a kind person, began to help the lady pick it all up. Upon completion of the change-retrieval mission, the old lady grabbed Heathers arm and gazed intensely into her eyes.

"Do not.... I repeat... do NOT blog of your experiences on the road for just under a month!" she said in a classic croaky old woman voice.

"Why not old lady in rags?" Heather replied.

"JUST beEEEeeccaauUUUsseeeEE!"

"Ummm, ok old lady in rags"

At which point the old lady VANISHED from sight, leaving Heather with nothing but a shiny 2009 quarter and the fateful warning echoing in her head. So it was decided that blogging should be temporarily suspended and was ne'er spoken about again, until now...

OLD LADY IF YOU'RE OUT THERE, IT'S BEEN JUST UNDER A MONTH SO WE'RE IN THE CLEAR, RIGHT?

We'll take her silence as a yes.

So hi everyone! Thanks for your patience, we know it's been a while...

We just got done with a itty bitty baby tour to Cleveland, Evanston and the back country roads of Iowa. It was interesting to say the least.

Our night in Cleveland was wonderful and strange. We were a bit (read: a lot) overshadowed by the amazing Cavaliers game that was going on, literally, around the corner (we were mere paces from the arena) and on the big TV behind the bar.
As we were playing, the room would erupt into unbridled cheers at random moments and at first we thought, "Hey this is great....they REALLY like us!" However, upon further reflection we realized it might have been Lebron's sweet moves, and not our life-altering songwriting, that had our audience on the edge of their seats. I suppose we'll never know for sure - we'd like to think our music can compete with a half-court-nothing-but-net-shot-at-the-buzzer, but we are definitely bias.

Evanston is not Chicago, but it's still awesome and we had a great time there. We played at a place called "Space" (not to be confused with "The Space" in Connecticut), and it was a helluva good time. The room was beautiful, the sound was phenomenal, the crowd was jovial and the hospitality was some of the best we've come across - they fed us homemade organic pizza for goodness sake, I mean what else is there in the world? An all around terrific time.

The final show of our tour took place in a barn. Literally. We were one of four acts playing the 3rd annual 'Farmer Songfest' festival in Ellston, IA, a town which, for the life of us, we could not find on our road map - our GPS ("Ruth") was equally perplexed in finding the festival but we got there, by golly! Upon arrival, we were greeted by two dozen or so friendly Iowans who were all pitching in to set up the festival tents, 8 dogs that couldn't have been muddier, and 45 million june bugs. By the end of the night there were close to 400 people, 15 dogs and 100 million june bugs - the latter were particularly enthusiastic about our music, which they expressed by flying full-speed into our faces and instruments throughout the show. We spent the better part of our hour-long set trapping the enthusiastic little fellas and throwing them back out into the fields. They seemed to show a particular affinity for Heather, which she tried her best to reciprocate but there was something about the whole exoskeleton thing that she just couldn't get over.

After the Iowa show, all we had to do was drive the 20+ hours back east. Easy! We decided to treat ourselves to a happy little detour at the halfway point to split up the journey, so we spent Memorial Day at Heather's grandparent's Day Camp outside Ann Arbor, Michigan. We enjoyed a relaxing day of boating, fishing, arts and crafts, nature walks, swimming, camp crushes, BBQ and archery. Observe:

As you can probably tell, we had no fun at all.

All the love from this vehical to you we do send...
~The Lead Sled.

home stretch

2009-04-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

we had a show in philly last night at the world cafe live. this omen greeted us when we exited the van:

(just in case you can't tell, that's a row of melodicas on the sidewalk leading right up to our van)

we felt pretty great about it. and sure enough, the show was a blast. cynics be damned! we will take our spray painted melodica omens however we please!

we were in west virginia on monday night, our second visit to the lovely purple fiddle since the beginning of 2009. we love that place a lot.

also interesting: we played a haunted house in kentucky over the weekend. it was called the southgate house, and the inventor of the tommy gun grew up there. we heard all sorts of amazing ghost stories from the bartender, sharon, who has worked there for 15 years. she has had countless experiences that could convince even the most devout of disbelievers (talk about an oxymoron). here we are sitting on some ghostly pillars outside the venue:
tonight we are playing in annapolis at the ram's head tavern. after the show we are sleeping on the bus with glenn and co. after sleeping on the bus we are going to new jersey. after new jersey we are going to new york, for our final show with this amazing group of people. then we will cry. then it will be heather's birthday and all hell will break loose.

this is a lot of driving:
crab cakes!
the lead sled

join our dragon slaying army

2009-03-27T11:37:00.001-07:00

have you ever listened to the doobie brothers while driving through northern Ohio on a sunny march day with the windshield wipers on? NO?! oh my friend, you've not lived.

so. the last time we wrote we were on our way to a campsite. we were excited about a night of good company and good food. what we didn't realize is that we had a BANQUET in store for us, all of which was masterfully prepared by a ridiculous team of kitchen superheroes that have been disguising themselves as a rock band and crew. observe the first course:

it was honestly the craziest camping feast we have ever experienced. and the best part is that most of the food was prepared ON THE CAMPFIRE! yeah. crazy.

well, after 3 amazing courses, the inevitable happened - guitars came out, followed by instruments of all shapes and sizes and the singing began. before we knew it, we had attracted a few groups from neighboring campsites and we had a straightup sing-along/dance party around the now roaring campfire. great times were had by all!

Post dinner, post jam session was when we decided to make the bonfire as big as humanly possible...just because. The night took a turn towards cult-like activities because of said fire. Tis possible twas seen from miles around. After we got the fire as big as we possibly could it was feeling like bed time. Smith and Cleare Crashed in the old Lead Sled, Heather got the sweet chance to sleep on the Flufflers tour bus...(luuuckkkkyyy) and Mikey decided to rough it in his sweet one man tent. Don't get any ideas ladies....it's a one MAN tent.

We were awoken the next morning by Mr. Tilbrook a-rap-tap tapping on the van door saying that breakfast was almost ready. Bubble and squeak, eggs, salmon and the biggest garlic mushrooms any human has seen. The banquet continued. nothing but banquets with the Fluffers.

After Breakfast we cleaned up the dishes and headed to Chicago to rock the pants off of The House of Blues (and we're talking the british kind of pants...yeah, you know what we mean). Also playing at HoB was Katy Perry who has inspired us to get a huge inflatable cat with eyes that light up. We were this close to just stealing hers. We must say however, if we ever had the means to have an oversize blown up cat on our stages, we would need a new one every night. Battles would be staged, band mates lost, cats slain...you know...the usual.

So if anyone knows where we can find a sweet blown up animal for our shows....let us know. As long as you know you will never get it back... we couldn't let such a powerful creature live to wreak havoc among the commoners of this world.

So now friends, we continue our journey towards Ohio, in hopes to start our own rock band community of dragon slayers. We will write again once our army has been formed. Any volunteers?

The Lead Sled

kentucky showers bring chicago flowers

2009-03-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

it's raining in kentucky and we're camping tonight. glenn tilbrook is cooking us dinner over a fire...in the rain. it's going to be historic and amazing.

last night we played in nashville - the night ended with an epic sit-in on two tunes with the fluffers, 'happy disposition' and 'take me.' heather whacked simon's floor tom, smith shattered a tamborine and cleare took a ridiculous impromptu electric guitar solo. the jam ended with all of us destroying the drumset in slow-motion, then lifting cleare up over our heads while singing 'loving you (is easy because you're beautiful).' we love these crazy brits!!

we had a great time the night before last in atlanta, at our main squeeze (no pun intended) 'smith's olde (<--- traditional spelling, doncha know) bar.' the exciting events of that show were, in chronological order:
1) the fluffers sit-in with us for our closing number, 'little bug.' glenn (electric guitar), stephen (keyboards) and cleare (acoustic guitar) all take amazing solos and the room goes wild.
2) halfway through the fluffer's set, we start playing the intro to 'goodbye girl' on guitars and melodica in the middle of the audience. glenn and the fluffers jump off the stage and lead us to the bar. we all climb onto the bar, and the 7 of us play the song from there.
3) glenn orders a mid-song round of tequila shots. we take them at the end of the song.
4) glenn announces: 'the spring standards will now lead us in a cover song of their choosing!' we pee our pants.
5) we decide to go with our old faithful sing-along, 'i shall be released.' we lead the entire room in a lovely rendition - still from atop the bar, mind you.
6) pandemonium ensues.

needless to say, we have had some memorable nights already on this tour and no doubt we will have many more. if we are coming through your town, please come make some memories with us.

now on to a kentucky campsite...
the lead sled

water flowing underground

2009-03-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

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

today is saturday

2009-02-21T18:18:00.001-08:00

we've spent most of today driving through the state of 'unbridled spirit' - kentucky, of course. we've watched 'american psycho', listened to boys II men and eaten many sun chips, but we've still got almost 200 miles before we'll be able to rest our weary bodies. it's snowing out and james smith is a champion of inclement weather conditions

we spent thursday and friday at a marriott in downtown memphis, where we were participants in the the annual folk alliance conference. there were tons and tons of people there, walking around with any number of acoustic instruments and a wide array of fashionable folk music attire. we saw a lot of music, but our favorite act was 'the parkinton sisters,' a group of 5 sisters with more talent than the 20-floor hotel could hold. check them the heck out on myspace and see them when they play in your town - 'cause they will.

tomorrow we're playing the illustrious 'mountain stage' in charleston, west virginia - we're not quite sure when the broadcast will be (it's an NPR show!), but we'll be sure to let you know when we find out more details. we're opening for 'the drive-by truckers' and only playing for 16 minutes (yes, they were that specific), but we're super stoked about it.

in other news, we ate at morgan freeman's restaurant in memphis last night and DAYAM was it a classy joint. amazing live blues music was the perfect compliment to our delicious southern food feast. we were so excited by the meal that we almost got kicked off the trolley we took back to the hotel. but we didn't, so it all worked out.

that's all for now...hope you're warm and snuggly wherever you are...
the lead sled

it's snaining

2009-02-18T10:49:00.000-08:00

why yes, i DID just invent a word.

SNAIN (noun): a precipitation that combines, in even parts, both rain and snow in order to create the saddest possible weather condition.
Boy, this snain is really making me feel blue.
If it doesn't stop snaining soon I might just have to sit in an empty bathtub and cry.

ok, so it's not really that bad. and luckily we've got some great jams going in the ol' Lead Sled to ward off any true despair. but MAN, just when you're ready to usher in an early spring...

today is the first day of our last burst of touring before a 3 week break - our first real break of 2009! we've been having such a blast touring all over the place for the past month and a half, but a break will be truly wonderful. personally, i plan to sleep for 2.5 weeks of it. i've got some bear hormone pills that are supposed to work wonders...

so right now we are heading in the direction of memphis, TN, where we will spend the next 3 days as participants in the illustrious Folk Alliance Conference of 2009. we don't know very much about the conference, but here is the badass postcard that james designed for the occassion:
we hope they like us and want us at all of their folk festivals. EVERY SINGLE ONE!

keep your chins up kiddles, this snain, too, will pass...
love,
the lead sled

does anyone really like those candy hearts?

2009-02-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

we are all in agreement that they are pretty much the foulest candy ever invented. yeah, sure, those messages are cute and fun and whatever, but does that make up for a disgusting, chalky taste design? we think not. (except for Smith who puts them on his cereal.)

hi. we're driving straight up the center of virginia right now, with cows on either side and mountains in the distance. it's pretty great...a perfect backdrop for a valentine's day drive. we're all holding hands, of course. and eating tons of chocolate. mmmmmm.

we played last night at a place called 'the box' in charlottesville, VA (the town where dave matthews band basically got their start). we had a last minute (ahem) change in plans, but thanks to the unbelievably pro skillz of our management team everything went off without a hitch! good times.

we also played on a local radio station yesterday (106.1, the corner), and i found this seed pod in the parking lot:

it reminded me of a classic episode of 'are you afraid of the dark,' in which two boys receive a magical monkey claw that grants wishes but always in the most negative way possible - kind of a 'be careful what you wish for' situation. it's a really scary episode. anyway, the monkey claw looked just like this seed pod.

we had our first show ever in north carolina a few nights ago, and we FINALLY learned what a tar heel is. finally! do you want to know? ok, then we'll tell you. the term 'tar heel' dates back to the civil war - it was a nickname given to the confederate soldiers from north carolina who were known for sticking to their ranks rather than retreating, as though there was tar on their heels. did we mention we love etymology?

we also had a great time at DC9 earlier this week. in addition to being a super fun club, it was also the site of our first-ever custom designed puffy paint tshirt sale! what am i talking about? oh nothing....just a super cool awesome new thing we're trying out for fun. keeps your eyes peeled for them at the next show you attend!

on one final valentine's note...
regardless whether you're feeling good, bad, glad or sad, we want to be your valentine today.
so if you don't have one already, we're yours.

....and we don't want to see you talking with anyone else.

seriously.

don't even look at another person....
you wouldn't want to set us off on one of our jealous valentine's day rages.
TRUST us.
if we hear that you've been talking to other potential valentines, we're gonna snap.

BIG time.

happy valentine's day friends!
~the lead sled

apple sweet apple

2009-02-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

we're almost home. we recognize the skyline and it feels great. only 3 nights in our own beds before we're back out on the pavement - talk to you then friends!

roll on spring!
the lead sled

what is a moine?

2009-01-31T10:23:00.000-08:00

does anyone know what a moine is? and does des moines mean 2 moines? please help us settle this debate.

in other news, we're heading back east today - with luck we'll make it to pittsburgh tonight and be back in nyc by the time the eagles win the superbowl. that's right...the eagles.

so the elephant in the room here needs to be addressed. yes, we spent the last two nights opening for kevin costner and modern west. yes, he told an amazing story about filming 'JFK'. yes, we all got to shake his hand and to be honest he wasn't any taller than we thought he'd be. all in all it was a great and very memorable experience - his band was super badass and we had a blast playing for packed houses at 'slowdown' in omaha and 'people's court' in des moines. also, his audiences were very enthusiastic and generous and liked buying us drinks. so that was fun too...

did i already mention it's cold here?

so we've got roughly 12 hours and 5 states to go through before our tour-weary bodies will rest this evening. any road game suggestions?

go eagles!
the lead sled

somewhere in the middle of america...

2009-01-29T11:47:00.000-08:00

'august and everything after' anyone? yeeeeah. omaha baby, omaha!

how have we been? well, to put it plainly, we're honestly quite relieved to have made it through the week unscathed. perhaps i'm overdramatizing - sorry mom! i guess it wasn't really so bad. we had a few days of treacherous driving through arkansas, missouri and illinois - crazy stuff. there were ridiculous ice storms throughout the midwest and we found ourselves smack in the middle of the action more than a few times. need some proof? how's this....

when's the last time you saw FROZEN GRASS? pretty neat, huh. it also sounded cool when we walked on it. i liked it.

so we went through about 4 gallons of windshield wiper fluid and there were some whiteknuckled moments, but all in all i'd say this was the most frightening moment of the whole trip:

terrifying!

we played in chicago last night at a really cool venue called 'schubas'. also on the bill were two nashville acts, both ridiculously awesome - pico vs. island trees kicked off the night with some tight rock 'em sock 'em grooves and katie herzig closed out the evening with her gorgeously woven melodies and honest-to-goodness storytelling. the surprise of the night was a delightful reunion with some new friends from the rock boat, ryan and pete of gaelic storm (our favorite), who came out to show some post-boat support. it was a special night - the kind that can almost make you forget the fact that you can't feel your feet or your face. almost.

we stayed with friends last night and feasted on cookies that were delivered to us by heather's aunt. the cookies are becoming a chicago tradition - we're super into it.

today we're driving west and crossing into iowa.....NOW. seriously, we just did! all the way across iowa and into nebraska and bam - we'll find ourselves in omaha. tonight is the first of two opening slots we're playing with kevin costner and modern west. COSTNER! we're playing at a venue called slowdown, owned by conor oberst (bright eyes). should be a fun one...that is, if james and james are able to calm their nerves and quiet their inner 11-year-olds that keep telling them we're opening for the prince of thieves. let's hope for the best!

never forget - it's the heart that matters more,
the lead sled

2009-01-26T13:20:00.000-08:00

Dearest friends,

did anyone read the family circus this morning?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
oh silly family circus.

Last night we played a venue called The Rev room in Little Rock Arkansas... and what a room of rev 'twas. It had the look of a large rock room, the feel of a casual living room and a sound system of the gods.

The show went swimmingly, the sound was great and we had a supportive audience of rockers. But let us tell you the main thing we discovered about Little Rock Arkansas. There is a group of people that have a distinct kindness in their hearts much like pooh bear's.

With no place to stay, we were planning on spending $32347486242.00 on a hotel room for the night. But lo and behold, the band that headlined the evening, "Free Micah," lived 10 minutes away and offered us a roof over our heads for the evening.

Little did we know what was in store for us...a night of generosity, kindness, musical and philosophical jamming and unbelievably comfortable beds. We stayed up until all hours of the morning listening to and playing music. Once that was over and it was time for bed, the hosts of the shindig (Jay, Matt and Eli) gave up their own beds to the weak and feeble Spring Standards, insisting that they'd be fine on the living room floor and couch. Wow. No words.

Tonight we're sleeping in a hotel in Neosho, Missouri - our plans to drive all the way to Kansas City today were thwarted by unrelenting freezing rain. A night of pizza, Minority Report, Life Aquatic and complimentary exercise rooms...not too bad.

See you at the continental breakfast (don't really be there, that'd be creepy),
The Lead Sled

it's done!

2009-01-24T14:38:00.000-08:00

today we are driving a million miles north to memphis. only one cool thing has happened - heather finished sewing her felt map to the ceiling of the lead sled:
in other news, it's getting colder. we don't like it.

see you tomorrow night in little rock! president clinton boulevard y'all!
the lead sled

tracy morgan is funny.

2009-01-23T11:08:00.000-08:00

we're sorry it's been so long since our last post. our excuse is that we were on an enormous ship in the middle of the ocean, internet was crazy expensive and we were distracted by things like shuffle board and buffets. that's right folks: we've just returned from the one and only ROCK BOAT.

in some ways, it feels like we spent a year on the rock boat. in other ways, it already feels like a dream, the finer details blurring and twisting into something unrecognizable. one thing is certain though: it was an experience for the history books.

i don't know quite where to begin - we spent most of our first day on the brink of passing out from our precautionary dramamine intake. that stuff's no joke. the second day had a stop on nassau, where we got the chance to scope out some of the finest legs the bahamas have to offer! check it out:

we also got the opportunity to interact with some genuine carribbean wildlife. and while it didn't quite compare to the 'shallow seas' episode of bbc's planet earth (which we watched the night before departure to prepare us for the possibility of a great white shark attack), it was still a special glimpse into another world. here's james cleare watching a needlefish spear a minnow:

he said it was pretty much as awesome as watching a seal eat a penguin.

that night we saw hanson play mmmbop. it was pretty much as awesome as watching a stingray devour a sand dollar.

we played the first of our two shows on the third day of the trip. we were on the 'lido deck' stage, which is where all the wind goes to hang out (see video above). but it was a blast, and the audience was great and the technical genius dudes who helped us sound like ourselves in the middle of the ocean were absolutely amazing.

one of the coolest things about the rock boat is that you get a chance to see a ton of different performers do their thing in front of audiences from all over the country (and the world). we got to see artists we grew up hearing on the radio (sister hazel, tonic, cowboy mouth), artists we'd heard OF but never gotten a chance to listen to (gaelic storm, aslyn, david ryan harris), friends we've made on the road over the past year (stephen kellogg and the sixers, the alternate routes) and bands we knew nothing about but came to love (the kin, garrison starr, the benjy davis project). also, there was a tangible feeling of community among all the performers, which was neat because the music business can feel quite competitive sometimes. i was so inspired by the feeling of comraderie that i created this scene out of oragami:

in case you can't tell, it's a green penguin playing the piano with an orange penguin singing its little penguin heart out. the green penguin isn't using the piano bench, but it's there for when he/she gets tired or decides to play a heartfelt ballad.

other highlights from the boat include a game of minigolf that got winded out (like rained out, but with wind) and some incredible slot machine victories...

...an adventure down the super-duper twisty slide, trips to the ice cream machine and, my absolute favorite, an amazing sing-along at the end of our second set with members of SK6ers, the alternate routes and our new friend brian. super good times. super.

since returning to miami yesterday i've been seeing stars, rocking back and forth inside my skin and occassionally lurching in nonsensical directions for no reason. but it's good to be back on the ground - and even better to be back in the lead sled.

next stop: gainesville!
with tropical love,
the lead sled

farewell jeff taylor

2009-01-16T10:25:00.000-08:00

ladies and gentleman,

today we bid farewell to a fine road warrior. a man of stature and grace; a man who loves alexander hamilton; a man who will share his grapefruit and give you his animal crackers, who will take the middle seat without being asked and will think twice before rooting through a lady's purse.

that man is jeff taylor.

we will remember his impeccable british accent.
we will remember his singing toasts.
we will remember his enthusiasm for philadelphia's historic district.
we will remember his leadership in the hotel bed bounce expo 2009.

who but such a man could order a pizza to be delivered to the van? who but such a man could run a mile inside a house in jacksonville, florida?

the sweet sound of his whistling will echo forever in the lead sled.
in loving memory,
the lead sled

ps...he's not dead. we just miss him.

In the Teekie teekie teekie teekie room.

2009-01-14T15:20:00.000-08:00

Tampa 200 miles away...

Jacksonville 100 miles away...

Disney World 0 miles away... all we needst do is dream.

(What I'm saying is Minnie better remember me after all I went through for her.)

Last night was Smiths Olde Bar.

Followed by a light show photo shoot with our friend and hostess Kathleen.

Now we're on our way to Jacksonville for the night before we head to Orlando for a sweet show at The Backbooth.

But until then we have big plans see. BIG plans. Including reading in the van, writing this blog and contemplating the difference between Dr. Pepper and Mr. Pibb. (Other than the obvious academic ones.)

This is all friends.

...and, by the way...

you look great.
Do something bold tomorrow and know that whatever you do, we got your back.

The Lead Sled

back in the siznaddle

2009-01-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

so. it's been a while. and yet....it feels like only yesterday we were eating pistachios and watching 'wet hot american summer' while driving through kentucky. did i say yesterday? i meant today. that's what we're doing RIGHT NOW. they're great pistachios.

so we kicked off our tour with jeff taylor (www.dumpsterhunter.com) on friday night with a killer show at philadelphia's own 'tin angel.' this is what jeff taylor looks like:

it was freezing cold in the venue and the stairs were just as steep as they were last time (and the time before that), but we had a blast - it was the perfect way to start our 'divine 09' tour. that's just a name we're toying around with. anyway, after the show we hit up a delaware favorite called 'the charcoal pit' for some ridiculously delicious milkshakes and funtimes with our friend joyce, who's been there for over 30 years. this is what joyce looks like:
fun fact: it's joe biden's favorite restaurant! (but don't tell that to the other half dozen in DE that make the same claim...)

the next morning we hit the road earlyish for the 6 hour trek to thomas, west virginia, home of the illustrious 'purple fiddle.' we hit some nasty freezing rain in the hills/mountains, but somehow we made it there in one piece. more on that later...

the town of thomas, west virginia has a population of 500 people, all of whom are super nice and ridiculously friendly and helpful - at least, that's what our experience suggests. the show turned into a dance party which continued into the night at the pub down the road. we played a game called 'cornhole' with some locals, drank some delicious IPA (brewed on location!) and saw some of the best taxidermy EVER. we ended the night with some bunkbed acrobatics:
now that's a great night.

our plan was to get up this morning and be on the road by 6am, but when we tried to drive up one of the many hills in town, we kinda sorta (well, totally) slid back down and almost had a not-so-romantic rendezvous with a stop sign. remember that freezing rain from our drive into WV? yeah, it had its revenge. luckily, james cleare is a ninja behind the wheel so he regained control in the nick of time. also luckily, we're all ridiculously jacked and agile so we were able to manuever ourselves out of harm's way. after the ordeal, we decided to wait until dawn when the ice would (hopefully) thaw and we could make it out of town. we passed the time in a local 'breakfast and lunchery' called the flying pigs, geeking out over a huge planet-earth-style book and the delicious grub. we ended up on the road 3 hours behind schedule once the ice had melted, but safety first! SAFETY FIRST MOM! always.

so that brings us to our present situation (pistachios, 'wet hot...'), with 212 miles left before we get to nashville where we're playing tonight with jeff and the incredibly talented ben sollee. should be another great one. hopefully this time the city will have gas... (see previous posts for details)

smashville or bust!
leadsled

the frigidest north

2008-10-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

Holy crap. It's cold.

We're currently en route to Syracuse, NY (location of Heather's alma-mater) for a show at the riskily named Funk N' Waffles. [Say it aloud if you don't get why its name is risky.] Last night was spent in the happenin little town of Northampton, MA, where we played a show at the Iron Horse Music Hall with our wonderful friends, The Everybodyfields. If you were there, you know how much it rocked, and if you weren't there, you should take our word for it when we say that it rocked. Just listen to these rave reviews:

"Man, that show rocked!" - guy at show
"Wow, what a rockin show!" - girl at show
"You guys rock!" - small child at show
"Achoooooooooo!" - baby panda at show

That venue is truly spectacular.

Anyways, we spent the night in the comfiest of comfort inns, and now, with continental breakfast in stomach, we're looking forward to a day off before tomorrow night's show in Syracuse. Perhaps we'll spend the evening watching a film, most likely "W" or "Religiulous." What political thinkers we are.

For those of you who have never experienced an autumn in New England (or upstate New York), let me tell you: it's unbelievable. The red leaves light fires in the trees that can only be put out by the frigid cold accompanying the fall. Every time a leaf falls to the ground, an angel breaks a string on his harp. Poor cherubim.

So now, it's back to the road for us. With teeth chattering and arms shivering, we bid you the fondest of farewells.

Brrrrrrrrrr,

-The Lead Sled

Captivity.

2008-10-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

It's been too long since our last blog. However, to briefly catch you up and show a realistic depiction of what life if like on the road... Ladies and gentlemen... James Smith...

A lot has happened.
For starters, we are back on the east coast, currently driving to New York City from Pittsburgh, where we stayed last night after Chicago.

SO CHECK THIS BULLHONKEY OUT!

Thats' right. Thats what we've done. And it only cost the lives of 7.5 million bugs. A moment of silence please...

....

....

Thank you.

And now onto a little rock n' roll descriptive poetry.

We played a few shows with our friends the Old 97's
They accepted us into their musical land of raucous heavens.

And that's it for rhyming.

The Old 97's asked us on multiple occasions if they could trade us our van and trailer for their huge bus. We said no.
The conversations all went something like this...

97's: "Guys, we really would like to trade you our bus for your van, it just looks like so much fun"

SS: "Listen guys... we don't want to make this weird or anything but the Lead Sled isn't just a piece of metal to be used as a bargaining chip...it's a glorious ride of life and joy."

97's: "Yes, we understand your van is the coolest thing that this earth has seen since the Scooby Doo movie staring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Mathew Lillard. But we would love to trade just for a liiiitttllleeeee leg of the tour."

SS: "Pleaseeee, pleeeaaasseee... gentlemen!"

97's: "please?"

SS: "uuugghhh... now it's just getting embarrassing."

97's: "...?...eh?"

SS: "Ok FINE! you can come in and SEE the inside of the van... 10 MIN!!! no longer! ok?!"

97's: "WOO HOO!!!"

What can we say, we do what we can to bring a little joy to others on the road.

Other than the awkward van/bus ordeal, our three shows with the Old 97's were fantastic. Their crew is a group of true professionals that jump to any task that needs seeing to in the blink of an eye. The band themselves are a bunch of no-good, down-low, dirty rotten evil scientists. We kid, we kid.

The Old 97's were always there with good conversation, words of wisdom and amazing concerts that left their fans screaming for more when the shows were finished. They are a bunch of outstanding musicians who know what it means to put on a concert.

But ladies and gentlemen, don't be fooled by our destination this evening, we are only getting the luxury of one a one night stay in our beds. We are back out for three more shows before we are officially, officially back. We couldn't be more excited. We have a lot of new songs to finish, more tours to plan and fall in New York City to look forward to. So with this blog we grandly wave to the Skyline of NYC and wait with bated breath to see our old stomping ground once again.

Until next time friends,
~The Led Sled

Chappell, Nebraska

2008-10-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

Ever heard of it? Neither had we. Luckily, that didn't stop us from deciding to gas up and find some lunch in this amazing no-horse town. We'll get to how amazing it was in a moment, but first, I'm not gonna lie - our initial reactions sounded a little like this:

Smith: "Ok, we're gonna die here."
Heather: "It looks like there was just a shoot-out on this street."
Mike: "I think I just saw a ghost move past that window."
Cleare: "I'm not hungry anymore. Can we go?"

But we mustered our courage and headed to the gas station first. After finally figuring out how to use gas pumps that outdated us by about 40 years, we asked for lunch recommendations from the suspiciously friendly and helpful clerk. She suggested a sandwich shop called Burgies, located just around the corner. Then she offered to mail Heather's postcards. Then she cleaned out the entire Lead Sled and restrung all our guitars. Ok, maybe not those last things but she was REALLY nice. So we started to think...maybe this town wasn't so bad after all. The jury was still out as we walked into Burgies.

First, we noticed the Halloween decorations. Then, the Rocky Mountain Oysters on the menu. And the third thing...the THIRD THING we noticed...was the fact that there was a BOWLING ALLEY INSIDE THE SANDWICH SHOP.

In the spirit of Joe Biden, let me say that again: there was a bowling alley inside the sandwich shop.

The lights weren't on, you could barely see the pins lined up with precision and care, but it was there by golly - an honest to goodness 8 lane bowling alley tucked discreetly in the back of this little sandwich shop in Chappell, Nebraska.

Naturally, we ordered a game and 4 pairs of shoes with our lunch.

It was a turbulent competition of skill and digestion, with extra slippery floors thrown in to keep things really interesting, but in the end there could only be one winner.

Any guesses?

As we cooled down from the game, the shop's proprietor, Wendy, told us all about the history of the place, which she and her husband bought and renovated in 2005. She said the town of Chappell hadn't changed much since her childhood years; the streets were generally very safe and parents had no reason to worry if their kids were out all morning riding their bikes around town. Everybody just looked out for eachother.

REALLY nice.

Tomorrow, we meet up again with our friends the Old '97s for a few dates in the mid-est west-est parts of this country - we plan to wear as much blue as possible...

Sometimes you eat the bar and sometimes the bar eats you,
The Lead Sled

who knew?

2008-10-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

Guys. We learned something awesome today. Idaho is BEAUTIFUL. And cold as heckfire. And it snows in early October. Observe:

After an amazing show with Stephen Kellogg in Seattle on Friday, we officially began the homeward leg of our tour - easterly ho! Yesterday we drove all the way from Monroe, WA to Boise, ID. We had a band practice in the van while 'The Body' twisted and turned through gorgeous Northeastern Oregon. We arrived in Boise intending to paint the town ruby red on a hot saturday night, but ended up eating a mediocre dinner at Perkins before collapsing into bed before midnight, with 'Hot Fuzz' as our lullabye.

And now, James, Mike and Heather, alternating one word at a time:

We went upwards and saw nothing, except for one lonely seagull, gulling its gulls. "What the HECK? This isn't really appropriate!" After leaving the heights of heights, by golly, we soared across mighty canyons and fruitful plains. The richest one of all was the poorest with dirty dirty dirty dirt. Meanwhile, the cattle wondered rhetorically "Wow. Really? This has turned pretty ridiculous." "Agreed!" said the seagull, who mused existentially at the sight of majestic mountaintops. Distracted by a telepathic signal, the lead sled said "Man...what a glorious afternoon!"

Thank you.

With luck, we will make it all the way to Laramie, WY tonight. Without luck, we will end up in a snow pile on the side of I-80 somewhere. Something in the middle will land us in a cheap motel in eastern Wyoming, hopefully with a continental breakfast. Keep your fingers crossed...

Purple Mountains Majesty 4eva,
The Lead Sled

Dear Olga,

2008-10-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

We were told it would be a long and arduous journey west on the Oregon trail. We were warned, but it was important for us to find a new homestead to lay our roots.

Half-way through the journey Mr. Mike fell ill with dysentery, and Heather was forced to care for him in the back of the wagon despite the heat and bumpy plains. Mr Cleare had to shoot one of our Oxen due to a leg injury. It's terrible news considering the amount of supplies we were bringing, but great news for dinner. It has been so long since we have had a real meal with real meat. We were getting close to boiling our shoes a few days ago.

We successfully forged a river late yesterday afternoon but in the process young Heather fell into the water and we feared she might catch her death. So instead of pushing forward, we decided it would be a good idea to stop and rest for the night. Mr. Mike suggested playing some music to keep our spirits up, and before we knew it the instruments were out and our voices were echoing off the surrounding mountains. As we were playing, a low rumble began to cut through the melody and we soon realized that Mr. Smith was laughing with wild abandon and dancing like no one was watching! It's been months since we've seen his spirits so high - he just hasn't been the same since his newt, Professor Thor, was brutally trampled to death by an oxen stampede. But last night he danced and laughed like the man he used to be, and his joy was infectious - we all played well into the night, and it was well past 8pm when we collapsed into an exhausted pile of sleepy puritans. In honor of the celebratory evening, we've affectionately named last night's camp 'The Boulevard at Spokane'. We don't know why - it just seemed appropriate.

Well, I should put the ink well back in the wagon, before it dries up. Hopefully we will see you soon and hear from you sooner. And don't forget what we have always said...

"West, west, west, it certainly is the best.
Sure this Oregon trail is hard,
but don't you dare pull the I told you so card.
Dysentary you may get, but Blissentary is westward met."

Well, until next time Olga,

~The Lead Sled

Post Script: We truly hope that you and yours are doing well.

Boo ya.

2008-10-08T14:10:00.001-07:00

Hello friends,

We survived, but BARELY.

L.A. was an amazingly excellent place for a day off from the long hard road. We spent Sunday bumming around Venice beach with some good friends, Frisbees and baseballs. We invented a few new games and got some free hugs from a street vendor who was advertising them on a poster board ("Free Hugs")...who could turn that down? Some theatre was seen, some Sushi was eaten, and a late night of hanging out in the valley continued into the wee hours of the morning. Yes, we are rockstars.

The next day we went to breakfast at a delicious spot called Jinky's, got our bass head fixed, and treated me, the Lead Sled, to a blissful internal makeover (changing oil, blah blah blah). Yes, we are efficient business people.

Before we knew it, 'twas time to make our way over to the Hotel Cafe to get ready for our little rock show. Lots of good people + good sound + inherent LA coolness = a super fun show. The following morning, bleary-eyed and slightly blue, we turned our wheel north for the first time since leaving NYC. Goodbye LA, Hello San Francisco! We set Ruth (our GPS vixen) for Hotel Utah and settled onto I-5 for the long haul. (ps - we've officially deemed this leg of the tour 'Hotels across Cali'.)

We arrived in San Fran with a few hours to spare, so we did what any self-respecting easterner would do with a few hours to spare in San Fran - we went to In-N-Out Burger of course! Well, everyone but Heather that is, she found herself a smoothie elsewhere. Loser...

After the show, we drove out to a friend's house in Berkley where we stayed for the night. Yet again, another very comfortable and hospitable roof over our heads. ROBOTS!!

Side Note: During the drive to Berkley, James Cleare's birthday started. And it's still going! LIBRAS!!

And now.... TO OREGON IN A HEXAGON!

(one last thing: if you are stuck in the wilderness, cat tails are mostly edible),
~The Lead Sled

3 sentences

2008-10-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

we love LA. it's been an amazing weekend. we'll write more when we're back in the car tomorrow...

wind power!

2008-10-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

We're two hours outside of LA and there are hundreds of windmills all around us!! Wheeeeeee! Oh to be reincarnated as an alternative energy source....

We left this morning from Tucson, AZ, after enjoying another delicious breakfast compliments of our hosts (the heaven-sent robots strike again!). This has to stop; we all thought we'd come back home after our month on tour, slim and trim and wearing those skinny jeans like all the hipsters do, but at this rate we'll probably ROLL back east. And while we're on the topic of delicious foods, we had one of the best Mexican feasts of our lives last night. At the recomendation of our soundman in Austin, we stopped in El Paso for dinner at a place called 'Forti' and let me tell you: truly unprecedented levels of foodgasm. A party in the mouth barely begins to describe it.

We got into Tucson at about 12:30, having gained 2 hours by crossing through two time zones over the course of our journey from Austin. So all in all, 14+ hours spent on the road ended up looking like a mere 12! No sweat! It was well worth it to see Heather's brother Seth, his girlfriend Vanessa and their amazing dog Uno, not to mention the actual real beds.

Here is a short photo retrospective of the last 2 days:

Mike and James rock the front...

While Heather and Smith rock the back...

(it's even funnier when you know that only moments before, they had looked more like this....)

And now, from the California mountains (or are they hills?),
a portrait:

and another one:

Needless to say, it's been beautiful and amazing and the sibling-like squabbles have been minimal.  We couldn't ask for much more.  I've got a feeling the City of Angels has no idea what's about to blow into town...

Hella bella,
the lead sled

did i mention west texas is big?

2008-10-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

So. We've been driving for about 8 hours and we've got about 6 more to go before we crash on Heather's brother's girlfriend's floor for the night. Yes folks, today's a long one - hopefully our longest of the entire tour. How have we passed the time, you ask? Well, we've watched all of last night's debates, searched for funny commentary on said debates, laughed or slept through ghostbusters 1 AND 2, ooooed and aaaaaahhhed at the beautiful landscape and feasted on leftovers from last night's dinner at Stubb's BBQ in Austin, TX. Quite a day!

Still in store: amazing mexican food dinner in El Paso and, if Smith has his way, probably at least one of the Alien movies. Or, if Heather has her way, all of the first season of Arrested Development. We'll see who wants it more...

Yesterday in Austin was an absolute blast - Stubb's was a great venue, and Austin is a helluva town. We were lucky enough to experience one of the city's most unique summer tourist attractions: its remarkable bat community. Yes, you heard me right - believe it or not, Austin has the largest urban bat population in the country. And you thought all if had going for it was live music...tsk tsk tsk.

We also partook in one of the city's year-round highlights: first thursday. The first thursday of every month finds Austin's downtown scene positively bustling with street merchants, street musicians, street capoiera masters (yup), and Claire Danes. Yeah, we saw her. Not a problem.

The show itself you ask? A great time. The highlight was a mid-song guitar switch, executed flawless by our illustrious guitar guru, Mike 'the body' Viotti. We also had the distinct honor of having Rhett Miller's younger sister in the audience with her hubby and friends. They were absolutely wonderful, further supporting our suspicions that the Millers are heaven-sent robots.

After a night of glorious sleep on the living room floor of Smith's friend Peter, and a delicious home-cooked breakfast (Peter is a heaven-sent robot too - they're everywhere!), we started the long trek west that will end in Tucson at around 2am tomorrow morning, Mountain Time. Gaia help us all...

Until next time,
the lead sled

ps - we don't mean to post these in courier font, but for some odd reason blogspot won't let us use trebuchet like we want. just wanted to make that clear.

Conned in New Orleans

2008-10-01T18:00:00.000-07:00

7:00 AM is early.
Anyone who says different is lookin' for a knuckle sandwich from us, yuh hear? That's when we had to wake up to get to Alabama safely by 11:30 for our Fox news debut. That's right, you heard it correctly. Fox News.

We arrived in plenty of time due to the fact that we still don't have a knack for the whole time change thing. After a long and winding ride to the very top of a mountain, we were met by Contact-style satellite dishes. Once we checked in we were directed to go even higher: straight to the roof of the Fox 6 building where we set up and rocked out to Little Bug and Reply for our friendly local reporter "J.J". Never seeing the actual broadcast, we just hoped they didn't put any rude captions on our faces as we played. We have our eye on you Fox News 6.

After that crazy experience, we loaded all of our rock-belongings back into the van, headed back down the long and winding road away from the huge Contact-style satellite dishes, and continued on our journey to the Work-Play theater.

What a venue. Just really good people up in that piece.

After the show, we followed our good friend Ankit to his house 4 hours away from the venue where we all slept soundly on beds of air and plastic. Once awake, we slugged our way to a Mexican meal (quite a treat).

Now we're 2 hours from New Orleans. And what's a group of 4 strange people to do when this close to such an amazing place? I'll tell ya...

Get conned into buying a hat from a very sweet old lady. She said she had to fine us for not having enough fun. She had me at hello. And then had me at 10 bucks for the hat, but what a sweet hat it is.

So, back in the Lead Sled, hat in hand and 10 bucks lighter.

To Austin!

Play on playa,
The Lead Sled.

manifest destiny

2008-09-30T06:45:00.001-07:00

this morning we left the charming city of atlanta, GA to head westward towards the mighty pacific. we spent 2 delightfully relaxing days in HOTlanta, enjoying some home-cooked dinners, some interactive theater and the undisputed highlight: a bonafide drive-in movie. and yes, to address the elephant in the room and because i know you're all wondering, we did neck through all of 'lakeview terrace'. there's nothing quite like a painfully mediocre social commentary to get those hormones going!

we played saturday night at a place called 'smith's old bar.' the funny part is, smith didn't even remember he owned a place in atlanta! to be fair, the new bar is much more memorable, but still - it was funny. we opened there for a group called 'soup', a local favorite that gets together once a year for a reunion show. the room was full of their die-hards, who've been following them since their heyday in the '90s. it was a great room to play for and we were having a blast...until we had to lug all our gear down a staircase that made 'the exorcist' stairs look like a child's stepladder. luckily we fared better than father karras, and had only our pre-existing ailments to worry about - a swollen ankle for smith and bloody knuckles for heather.

on sunday we enjoyed a home-cooked dinner of grouper and squash, compliments heather's family friends, and caught a show by atlanta's illustrious OUT OF HAND theater called 'meds.' to our dismay, we failed to find a place to go paintballing on monday, which had been james cleare's birthday wish; apparently monday's not a good day to go paintballing in atlanta. so instead we spent the day relaxing and exploring little 5-points. when night fell, mike wowed all of us with his lasagna-making-MAD-SKILLZ and we feasted at the drive-in as samuel l. jackson argued that the only thing more annoying than snakes on a plane is a bi-racial couple next door. huh? ahhh hollywood.

needless to say, atlanta charmed all of us and it was hard to say goodbye - but birmingham calls, and so to birmingham we will go.

Until we meet again,
lead sled said

2008-09-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

Last night we played in one of the neatest-named cities in all of America - Chattanooga, Tennessee. I hope I spelled both of those right...double consonants and vowels all over the place. We played at a place called rhythm & brews (cleeeeeeever) with a singer-songwriter out of Nashville named Katie Herzig and a Knoxville-based group called the Everybodyfields. It was an amazing night of music.

We packed sandwiches yesterday, which was cute. We put the sliced tomatoes in a separate bag so the bread didn't get soggy. We're cute. And ugly. And cute. But pretty ugly.

We like packing lunches because we can afford it, unlike gas, which, with the state of our current economy, is getting hard to find in certain cities, making it more expensive. Both Nashville and Chattanooga have more roped off gas stations than a green bean farm has caterpillars (which makes traveling a whole new kind of adventure). $700,000,000,000? hm... interesting...

And now going back to food (truly the most interesting topic on the bill), we had the extraordinary luck of having food prepared for us today by our friendly cabin neighbor "Dee Dee". It was incredible to have home cooked food out here on the roO-Ad. Fried fish, beef, fancy mac 'n cheese, green beans and turkey bacon and a nice tall glass of ginger ale to finish it all off. What.....a.....feast...
It was the four of us and Dee Dee sitting at the lunch table with some uninvited guests hiding out in the green beans.

And just in case you were wondering, yes that is a caterpillar.

All told, the cabin was a relaxing rock n' roll time filled with life giving life juices.

And now... onward and upward... (or downward and sideways if you are looking at a map of the nation) towards Greenville, SC.

Until next time friends,
~The Lead Sled

sitting in a tin can

2008-09-24T16:44:00.000-07:00

After an intensely dream-filled night of sleep, we awoke in Heather's family cabin (except Mike - he slept in a tent outside). Conditions in Tennessee are absolutely beautiful: 72 degrees, clear skies, and no plans at all until tonight's show. We started off with a much needed grocery store run, after which our fridge was crammed with tasty breakfast foods. Then the great omelette feast of 2008 began, with Smith at the helm cooking up some brunch goodness. Cleare and Mike helped out while Heather, in true defiance of traditional feminine kitchen roles, elected not to participate in the culinary revelry. Okay...she made the toast, but really, how hard is that?

The feast was over and we headed down to the lake for some fishing and funness. There were lures, jigs, frisbees, soccer balls, fake worms, and some quality time spent on Heather's neighbor's dock. Though no fish were actually caught, and the frisbee accidentally found its way into the lake, it was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon.

After chilling-out/maxing/relaxing-all-cool for an hour, it was time to head off to Nashville, the location of tonight's show. We managed to avoid all speed-monitoring aircraft as we zipped down the highway. Due to Mike's unfamiliarity with Tennessee geography, we unknowingly crossed into central time some time during the two-and-a-half hour drive, landing us at the venue an hour early. The time was well spent on a trip to Grimley's, a fantastic record store above the venue, followed by some scootin' and rock in the van. This is how we did most of our promoting today:

Now it's time to load in the gear and get our sound-check on, so off we go...

love,
the lead sled

2008-09-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

We are starting this blog on September 23rd 2008. Cleare is in the driver's seat doing what drivers do, Heather is in the passenger seat guarding the safe, Mikey and Smith are in the back being downright intelligent all the time and I'm barreling down I-95S like I own it. We have mobile broadband, drinks in the fridge, and lanterns hanging all around us (thanks to the newly-wed Ethringtons).

The first show of our first national tour is tomorrow night at a spot called 'The Basement' in Nashville, TN. After 11 short hours on the road today we will crash tonight in a cabin that Heather's great-grandfather built back in the olden days where everything was black and white and people walked like charlie chaplin all the time. There are fish heads on the wall and we will probably find a cute fuzzy animal in one of the cabinets. The cabin will serve as our home base for the first few days before we begin the couch-surfing adventure that will dominate the rest of this tour.

So far today we have eaten subs from capriottis (a delaware sandwich spectacular), purchased a spare tire for our trailer (better safe than sorry) and started this blog. Pretty darn productive for our first day on the road if you ask me.

So on and on we shall go, into the urban/suburban/rural wilderness of this country where our adventures shall unfold in directions not yet known. So friends, check yourselves before you wreck yourselves and we shall do the same.

Until we meet again,

~The Lead Sled