Summer Tour 2010 - Day 31-33: Boyertown, WXLV, and HOME!

Hi there!

I know I'm a little behind on posts from the last few days, but so much has happened! So here we go:

First of all, on Wednesday, I left Columbus, OH, and made the big drive to Boyertown, PA. I didn't realize that I had booked another long day for myself, so I was a little disappointed to be in the car all day, but I arrived in Boyertown at Frecon's Hard Bean, and was so pleased with what I found!

It's a great coffee shop (a local chain) that I had played at last year, in West Reading. This room had the same feel...nice big room, great sound, beautiful old hard wood floors. It was really nice. I shared the show with my friend Kris Kehr and we had a lot of fun! Attendance was a little low, which was too bad, but that's the only show on the tour that I can say that about - so not too shabby!

Here's the video from that night...



Later that night, I drove to my aunt and uncle's house so that I could squeeze in another visit with them. I spent most of the morning sleeping though (sorry guys!)...which I took as a sign that tour needed to wrap up.

Thursday, I drove to Schnecksville, PA (crazy name, right?) and sang on The Phil Stahl Show. It was a great experience! We talked and I played for an hour on the air. I know a lot of you tuned in live, but I'll get a copy and figure out how to post it somewhere so that you can listen to it for those of you who missed it. I don't think I said anything too embarrassing, but I'll have to give it a listen and then let you know...

Besides a great show on the air, I got to sing later on that evening at Magnolia's Vineyard in Orefield, PA (just up the road) and had a great time! It was yet another gem of a night, where I got to sing for a whole new group of people, sell CDs and hear some talented local musicians.

I left feeling SO encouraged.

This led to the twist in my tour. I tried to figure out how this was going to work out...I had found a couple of open mic nights in Princeton that I could play at on Friday night, but a perfect storm of things had occurred, so I was going to need to stay in a hotel (boo) or drive home in between shows. So I decided, I'd rather come back to Princeton in the fall when the city is full of students, and not push my luck on finding another gem of a night, since I'd already had so much good luck on this tour. I figured my good luck might run out at some point!

So on Thursday night, I braved the late night construction traffic, knowing that sleeping in my own bed would be worth it...and it was.

Yesterday I spent hanging out in my house with the fan pointed directly on my face (our air conditioning is broken) did a bunch of booking for the fall, did some grocery shopping and started unloading my car. Back to normal boring life, I guess.

But tonight, I'm off to NYC where I'll be playing at Googie's Lounge with my friend Brooke. I can't wait, and it's going to be a great way to end my tour!

Thanks in advance to all of you who made this tour so amazing for me. It keeps getting better each year!

Love,
Kristen

Summer Tour 2010 - Day 30: Columbus

I love Columbus!

After a rough hotel stay in Louisville (do NOT stay at a Knight's Inn...not clean, and very stressful) I was feeling a little discouraged on my drive to Columbus, and the rain that fell all day long didn't really help.

But then...

I stumbled upon a little gem of a night by visiting the open mic at the Taj Mahal. I got to play a bunch of songs for a group of friendly, talented, supportive young people - and I had a FANTASTIC time. I can't wait to go back.

I am typing as I listen to my friend Kris play (I'm at the Hard Bean in Boyertown) so I'm off for the night, but I'll have a video from tonight for you tomorrow!

Love,
K

Summer Tour 2010 - Day 29: Louisville

Another new city!

I had a great time checking out Louisville yesterday - what an interesting city. Before I left Nashville, though, I had to drive by the legendary Bluebird Cafe. Now, I know that people "need to go there" when they visit Nashville, but I had it on good authority, that I would be disappointed. That couldn't have been more accurate...the cafe is part of a strip mall, and is next to a cleaner and a hair salon or something like that. The best part of the visit was that there was a Trader Joe's across the street, so I got my snacks for my drive to Louisville!

Don't get me wrong, if I ever have the chance to play there I'll do it...but I'm glad that I didn't spend time waiting in line or cramming to a table with strangers just so I could say I was there.

But here's the photo for you!



I made it to Louisville in just a few hours, and had a great time driving around and exploring the city. There is a lot to do in Louisville. One of the things that I didn't even think about...the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory! It was really cool. I've never seen so many bats in one place in my life! Plus they have a huge bat in front of the museum...I couldn't even fit it in one photo...but I used my amazing photo editing skills to fix that up for you...



Anyway, I had fun looking through parts of the museum, seeing the bat vault, and of course visiting the gift shop. I picked up some mini-bats for myself!

I also drove to the Thomas Edison house, which, I will admit, the location seemed a little sketchy at first, but I was happy that I went (even though it was closed). So here it is...if you plan on going there, get there before 2 p.m., just so you know. I had no idea, but apparently Thomas Edison lived here when he was 19 years old, and worked as a Telegraph Key Operator. He only stayed for a year or two, but he worked on some of his first inventions in this residence.



Another cool thing that they have going on throughout Louisville are these painted horses. I thought they were really nice. They had them in downtown Louisville, as well as some of the suburbs like Crescent Hill where I hung out for a few hours at a coffee shop called Heine Brothers. They have great food!





One more photo, and then I'll get you to the video...but I just wanted to show you. On the way to Stevie Ray's (which is downtown) I passed a blind printing house. How crazy is that? My favorite part of it...the front sign is in braille. Amazing.



Anyway, I made my way back to downtown Louisville to play at Stevie Ray's as the open mic feature. It was a lot of fun, I got to hear some really talented musicians, and I made some new friends! Gotta love that.

So, here's the video!



Now tonight, I'm playing at the Taj Mahal in Columbus, OH. I already scoped out the venue, met the bar manager, etc, so I'm ready to play!

Summer Tour 2010 - Days 26-28, St. Louis and Nashville

Hey there!

So after a few busy days, I know I'm a little behind on my posts. This one is going to be a biggie, so be prepared!

First of all, on Friday, I got a chance to go to my grandmother's old house in Missouri. Now I know this is a little personal, and definitely was a nostalgic trip that meant most to me, but I thought you might like to see a place that means a lot to me. If not, just skip ahead. No hard feelings, I promise!

When I pulled up the driveway, I was so excited! I took a quick photo of the sky, because I thought it was so beautiful. It also smelled exactly as I remember...that humid country smell. I just love it.



And here's the video.



Later on that evening, I drove up to downtown St. Louis, and of course, had to snap a little photo of the arch!



I played that night with three other talented singer/songwriters, Beth Bombara, Andy Berkhout and Leslie Sanazaro. Here's the video from the evening.



Then yesterday (Saturday) I made the drive from St. Louis to Nashville. It was a pretty easy drive, but I did have to pull over for a few minutes so that I could rest a bit. This driving and singing is fun, but it can sure make me sleepy! Also, a huge milestone for this trip, I reached the 5,000 mile mark! I arrived in Nashville to Ugly Mugs, a coffee shop in East Nashville where I shared the night with my friend Benjamin Olson (we went to high school together!) and my new friends Rebecca Sayre and Rachel Pearl (part of a group called Sugarbeat). It was a lot of fun, so here's the video from the night.



After the show, I went out on the town with my friend, Ben.



We met some nice people, ate some good food, and had a lot of fun! Then today (my day off...thank goodness!) we went to Titan Stadium because they had opened it to show the final of the World Cup. We had a great time hanging out in the sun and watching some soccer.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Louisville, another new place for me, so I'm pretty excited to get there and check it out!

I'll leave you with this "artsy" photo of Nashville.



See you soon,
K