Last day in Pittsburgh...

So last night I arrived in Pittsburgh, and as you know, the first thing I did was head to a coffee shop and post my blog.

After that I made it over to my friend Heather's house. We talked business for a while, since she is taking a tour this September out to the west coast. We had fun exchanging ideas, contacts, etc. By the way, you should check out her music at: www.heatherkropf.com, and let any coasties know that she's coming.

We took off for D'Vine soon after I arrived and pulled up to a really interesting place. D'Vine is really nice, and it has a cool, classy feel inside, but it's a part of a strip mall. So from the outside, it's kind of an interesting layout. Once you come through the doors though, it has a great feel.

Anyway, Heather and I loaded everything inside, and I took a picture of our names on the sign! You know I love to do that, and I couldn't help but do it just one more time...



We switched off playing sets to a small, but attentive crowd, and got to eat some good food. The sound system was excellent, and the lights and atmosphere really fit our sound. Here's picture of Heather playing!



Our friend Joy came with some people to add to the audience, so that was nice. Instead of taking a set break with house music, which was our original plan, we just had Joy come up and play a few songs instead. It was nice to hear her again...and you should check out her music too! www.joyike.com.

Today I will be driving from Pittsburgh to Westport. It's a long haul, so I've planned a stop to visit family in Harrisburg along the way. Hopefully that will split the drive up well! I'll post all of my thank you's, and repost friend's websites either tonight or tomorrow. I need to acknowledge a lot of people, and hopefully introduce all of you to some new independent musicians! See you in CT!

Last show of the tour!

Well, tonight's my last night on this tour, and I have to say...it feels like I've been driving for years! But, I'm really going to miss this. It feels like forever, but it also went by really fast. I don't know how that's possible, that's just the way it feels.

Yesterday morning I had a nice breakfast with my aunt at Cracker Barrel. (As a kid I used to think that CB only existed in Missouri, because we'd only go there when we visited for a family reunion...so it brought back a lot of memories.) We had a lot of fun talking, catching up, solving the problems of the world, etc. You know...girl talk stuff! Anyway, she sent me on my way with a little baggie of goodies, which was AWESOME! She is a great cook, so I was so happy to see a bag of her banana nut bread. I've been rationing it over the last two days, but I only have one piece left. It's so tempting!! Anyway, I took a photo of it so that I can remember it even after I've eaten it all.



On the way out of town I snapped one more photo of the arch. Isn't it pretty??



Yesterday I had to drive from St. Louis to Columbus, which is about a 7 hour drive, and non-exciting. I was making a LOT of phone calls from the road yesterday, but in between towns and on those hilly roads my phone did quite a bit of cutting out. (You could not 'hear me now', thanks a lot Verizon.) So I tried to keep myself entertained by watching for the state signs as I was getting close to the borders.

I traveled through Indiana...



And a few hours later crossed under this pretty arch into Ohio.



I arrived in Columbus with about two minutes to spare, so I started setting up my equipment at Vic's right away. It's a cool place...a music room with a bar and good food. And I was excited because my friend Bobby (who is an AMAZING guitar player...http://www.myspace.com/tonejunketmusic) came with some of his friends from town to see me. Bobby and I went to college together at St. Olaf, and now he's in the PhD program at Ohio State University studying geography.

After I finished playing, and I called Bobby up to play a song as well, we went out for ice cream at the place where everyone goes when they're in Columbus. I certainly didn't want to be left out of that! We went to Jeni's, and I had Thai Chili ice cream. It was like spicy peanut butter ice cream...surprisingly delicious!



Then we went back to Bobby's place (I was falling asleep) and ended up talking about music for a long time. He's working really hard on getting some of his songs placed on TV and in films, and he's meeting some success. When you check out his myspace page you'll know why!

This morning I took off to check out Columbus a little bit, and went out for some breakfast at the Northstar Cafe. I got some work done while I was eating so that I wouldn't feel guilty about spending some time exploring. I walked past an electrical workers union building, and as a lot of you know I'm a Pete Seeger fan, and since he's a fan of the unions, I thought he'd like to know that the union is alive and well in Columbus.



I visited a few little shops on High Street (that's one of the main streets in town) and spent some time looking around the Ohio State Bookstore. I also walked around the campus a little bit. It's very pretty. I snapped a photo of the sign so that you could see some of the grounds. My favorite part about this sign is that it says: THE Ohio State University.



After walking around a little bit I got back into my car (I was kind of putting it off) and on one of my breaks in Ohio...I saw some Amish people! I was so pumped! As you may remember, earlier this tour I bought some Amish Cheddar Popcorn just so that I could feel like I had seen some Amish people...but here was a mom and son selling some jam and other homemade goods on the side of the road. I didn't catch them in the photo because I didn't want to be rude, but I gave them a little wave!



Soon after that I crossed into West Virginia.



I didn't even know I was going to be going through West Virginia (I do NOT have a PhD in geography) and I was instantly seduced by an attraction sign that promised a view of a golden palace. Well, I took a wrong turn somewhere and just ended up wasting 30 minutes, without seeing a glimpse of a palace. Instead, I saw these little fawns on the side of the road. How cute are they? They were a little scared of me, but only when I pulled out the camera did they turn to run away.



After getting back on the highway after my detour failure, I finally got into Pennsylvania. It felt like it took forever today!



I was so happy to get back into Pittsburgh. I really like this town, and took a photo of these eyes, which were in downtown Pittsburgh. Just like a painting they followed me even as I was driving away.



Tonight I play with my friend Heather at D'Vine Wine in Wexford, so I'll take some photos and let you know how it went tomorrow! I can't believe I'll be sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night...I think I'm going to sleep pretty late on Saturday!

Des Moines and St. Louis

Well, it's been a few days since I've been able to update my blog, and it's because I've been so, so busy, and having a good time!

Monday morning, I left bright and early to head off to Des Moines, IA. I've never been to Iowa before, and I was really looking forward to it. Driving through southwestern Wisconsin is really beautiful, there are a lot of rolling hills, and it's very green.



I was enjoying it so much that I almost didn't notice this bumper sticker! I doubt you can read it from the blog, but it says, "we don't dial 911" and has a picture of a pistol. That's nice and comforting! I just had to take a picture, but I didn't want to get to close because if I had accidentally hit the back of his car he would not have dialed 911.



Soon after the bumper sticker, I knew I was getting close to the Iowa border so I pulled off to take a little break and buy a snack. What kind of a vending machine did they have? A Packer vending machine! You don't see those everywhere.



Soon after the Packer machine I crossed the Mississippi...



And was welcomed by the people of Iowa!



I saw TONS of corn...



And of course, when I pulled over to fill up my gas tank, I was filling up my car with ethanol.



I arrived at my friends' house (Jean and Bob) and we caught up, talked about the tour, made plans for the night and ate a delicious dinner. (Of course we ate some corn on the cob with our dinner!) Jean and I took off right after dinner to get to Java Joe's in downtown Des Moines. It was really nice! The coffee house is really big, and they have a little stage where musicians can play, and they have a nice crowd of people that come to listen to the music. Among the listeners, was my friend Shannon! I was so excited to see her...we've known each other for a long time: she used to babysit me when I was little, I sang at her wedding...I'm pretty sure she's known me my entire life. It was really nice of her to come, especially since she had to drive 50 miles!



Then yesterday, I spent the morning chatting with my friend, Jean, and took off after breakfast for St. Louis. I was a little sick of seeing corn fields, so I was happy when I could snap a photo of my Missouri sign.



Last night, was interesting. I played at a book store as a part of a poetry night, at Left-Bank Books, and it was great. The poets were really talented, and had some amazing lines. It made me wish that I worked harder on my lyrics. There was a bit of a somber/serious theme throughout all of the work that was a little different than my mostly positive folk/pop songs, but all in all, the night really flowed well. Again, let me say that the poets were very talented. I did, however, have one concern when a female poet went up front to read some of her erotic poetry. Now keep in mind, I'm sitting with my aunts, uncles and cousins listening to some nice (though serious) poetry, so I thought they were kidding when the erotic genre was brought up. It was not a joke. After a few poems and a lot of avoided eye contact between family members, the poet finally arrived at her RACY poem. What had the other poems been? I felt really nervous and a little embarrassed, but everyone seemed to like the poetry and certainly, no one was bored during the reading!

After the show (I played to a full bookstore of really attentive listeners, including my friend Jenilyn from college...I've been SO LUCKY on this tour!) I went out to dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousin. Here I am with my cousin, Amanda who had just finished her second day of classes at St. Louis University.



I got a chance to see a little bit of the campus...it's really beautiful! We had dinner out at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and on the way back home, I had to snap a quick photo of the arch!



This morning I had a chance to chat a little bit more with my aunt at, and now I'm pulled over in a Drury Inn parking lot using their wifi, as I'm on my way to Columbus, Ohio. So far it's been kind of a long day, but I'll keep an eye out for interesting photo opportunities!

Last day in GB!

Ok, so here's a crazy story. Last night I was up late watching a movie (Practical Magic, quite entertaining...) and I heard some noise in my parents' garage. Since they just had their garage broken into a few months ago, I thought the worst. As I was making my way to the garage door, I heard a car door slam (making me think about my equipment) and then I heard the door to the house open! Well, just as I turned the corner to greet the intruder (with no weapon or anything in my hand by the way, I guess I was just going to have to scream "boo!") I heard him/her turn on the bathroom sink, and saw that it was just my dad washing his hands.

He had been out there, and I didn't even know it. What was he doing? Cleaning and waxing my car. It looks amazing! He said he wanted to do a nice 'dad' thing for me before I took off. For those of you who know him...you're probably just nodding right now.

So, bright and early this morning, I drove my very shiny Corolla to Calvary Lutheran Church and sang a few songs during the morning services. It went really well! They have beautiful acoustics in the sanctuary, so I love singing there. Plus, my former high school music teacher is the choir director, so it's always fun to catch up with him as well as all of the other members that I've known since I was little. They took up a special offering to support Simply Smiles, and let me sell CDs afterwards. I sold a bunch! I think playing 'Trouble' during the service helped me sell a CD or two. Anyway, here I am posed in front of my beautiful car!



As some of you know, I had originally planned to be playing in Minneapolis this evening, but it turned out that even after scrambling I couldn't get anything set up. So, rather than head out to play three songs at an open mic, I took it as a sign that I should just rest for the afternoon. So, rest I did! Here I am lounging at my parents' cottage on the Green Bay...I think I fell asleep about three seconds after this photo was taken and woke up in the exact same position!



I spent the rest of the afternoon reading my book (The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult...it's a very fast read, I almost finished the entire thing today!) and of course wandered a little bit in the water.



After dinner we hung around and watched the sunset. I went out on the boat pier to take a photo, but I had to pass by this huge spider to get there! I took a photo just so you'd all know how brave I am.



And here's the sunset. Now, is there any question that I made the right decision to stay here?! I think sunsets beat open mic nights any day of the week.



Tomorrow I'm off to Des Moines. I've never been there before, so I'll try to explore a little bit and show you want I find!