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
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
i'm born anew in your genius
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
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
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
yyYYYYAARRrrrrggg.
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
home stretch
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
(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
Friday, March 27, 2009
join our dragon slaying army
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
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
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
kentucky showers bring chicago flowers
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
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
Saturday, March 21, 2009
water flowing underground
we are crossing the george washington bridge. cleare is behind the wheel in purple pants. heather is in the front seat in spearmint pants. smith is in back reading the new york times in jeans. viotti is in the back sewing a patch onto his pants, so he's not wearing any. it's a beautiful march day and we're listening to the talking heads.
this is day 4 of our tour with glenn tillbrook and the fluffers. we're doing 14 shows in 18 days with these guys, and it's off to a killer start.
now i will admit something:
the first few days of a tour always feel sort of like boot camp or fall pre-season, after a summer of goofing off and not running even though your coach warned you about that timed 2-mile run at the end of the first week. we're winded by our second song, random muscles ache, we bleed on our snazzy tour attire and we collapse into whatever makeshift sleeping arrangements we've got at the end of each day. so we've been dealing with a little bit of that for the past 3 nights - first in long island at the crazy donkey, then at the narrows in fall river, MA, and last night in ridgefield, CT. but i think it's safe to say that tonight or tomorrow will bring us over the hump, at which point we will shape-shift into a well-oiled, 3-piece-machine that feels neither fatigue nor pain. we're actually illegal in some countries. i'm not bragging, that's just plain fact. we're almost there...
anyway, back to the tour. it's safe to say glenn tillbrook and the fluffers are some of the kindest, most down-to-earth and hysterically funny individuals we've met in the last year of touring. we first met glenn last fall when we did some dates with 'squeeze,' the new wave/punk-pop band from the '80s that brought us the timeless hit, 'tempted,' among other pop gems. check 'em out:
that's glenn in the green pants. those of you who know us will know he shares our fashion sense, but that's just one of the things we have come to admire and adore about this incredibly talented individual. we could gush for another few paragraphs right now, but instead we'll space it out over the next 2 weeks of blogging. so you've got that to look forward to, loyal readers!
gosh but it's good to be back in the sled...
hope to see you soon!
the lead sled
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
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