jc's day by day diary "From the Road"
From the Road
10-26-05
We had a great time @ the Chicago St. show on Sunday, & hit the road first thing Monday morning. Thanks to all who came out to support us! We had an emergency chicken wing stop in Pittsburgh (thanks to Ed Johnson for guiding us in via the internet) & arrived in Philadelphia at about 5:30 AM on Tuesday morning. The first show of the trip was @ the whiskey tango tavern in NE philly last night. It was great to finally take the stage in Philadelphia for the first time in over ten years (time flies),& we had a blast! Fantastic turnout, lots of old friends, a couple of surprises (all pleasant) during the opening act( the newly christened “G.C. taxi”, fantastic job fellas) & a tight & energetic set… the “homecoming couldn’t have gone better! We’re looking forward to tonight’s show…we go on @ 10:20 pm @ the grape street…should be a good one! I’ll check back in tomorrow!
jc
From the Road
10-27-05
Hello all, just checking in. yesterday I got to take the lads on a tour of the neighborhood where I grew up, & snapped a few photos @ the infamous Dorsey playground. It was cool to be able to show the guys a lot of those places (jeff got some great footage). last night we performed @ the grape street for our second stop in philly …great show! Lots of friendly faces, & made a bunch of new friends as well, can’t ask for any more than that. Thanks to all who made the trip out…it’s nice to have that kind of crowd on back to back nights, “so far so good”. We leave philly this afternoon for NYC . looking forward to another great night, this time it’s kenny’s castaways in the village, for the first of five shows in New York, but first we’re going for our fourth cheese steak in three days! I hope everyone is well, we’ll see some of you tonight. Take care, & I’ll check back tomorrow.
jc
From the Road
10-28-05
Greetings from the coast! Last night’s show @ kenny’s castaways in NYC was a great time. Thanks to those of you who made it out from Philly & New Jersey, we really appreciate the support. Cool place, really decked out for Halloween. We made a lot of new friends & hope fully we’ll see them all @ our other NYC shows. Kevin has the patience of a saint (he drove in & out of the Holland tunnel), & barret was cheered on by the locals when he decided that we’d all waited long enough for an indecisive cab driver to figure out which way to turn & got out of the van to explain this to him ( that’s putting it nicely). Anyway, we have the night off tonight, so we’re back in philly to do the historical sight seeing thing, followed by a home cooked meal @ the condron house & then out for some socializing w/ the old gang! Until next time,
jc
From the Road
10-30-05
Hello all… day seven. Friday was a free day (much needed) & we got to see all the historical sights here in philly, & made it back down to the neighborhood for a couple of pints with some old friends…kevin performed his special style of interpretive dance ( yes we have footage). Last night we performed @ Brenner’s Brew in Bridgeton NJ & met some of the nicest people we’ve encountered on the trip so far. Small & intimate setting ( so much so that we decided after we got there to play an acoustic set), perfect opportunity to play around with some of the songs…really cool show. If ever in Bridgeton, we highly recommend stopping by to see Barbara! Well, it’s back to NYC today to play @ Sin-e (made famous by the late jeff buckley), to kick off week two. It’s been wonderful to see so many of you out @ the shows, & we’re really looking forward to the rest of the trip! We hope all is well back in Joliet & Chicago…can’t wait to see everyone next week. I’ll write again tomorrow to let you all know how it goes tonight. Until then,
jc
From the Road
10-31-05
Hello all. Well, we survived our second NYC appearance last night (@Sin-e) & by survived I mean a 4 hr. traffic jam on the turnpike that almost made us miss the gig altogether, a tiny rear ending that could have ended the trip if we’d have been able to go faster than 5 mph
( all is well…not so much as a smudge), & the usual backup @ the Holland tunnel (among other things). The show itself went great! The band is sounding better w/ each performance & my brother & val fought through the traffic to make their 5th show of the trip (above & beyond). We were also surprised by cevin from Xemu records dropping in on us…it’s been a long time & it was good to see him. We spent the evening in the comforts of my little bro’s home in NJ afterward & are now getting ready for the trip back to New York for a Halloween appearance @ Bar13. tomorrow it’s off to Boston, but for now, happy Halloween & I’ll let you know how it all turns out!
jc
From the Road
11-01-05
Day 9…show 7. what a great place! We played Bar13 in manhattan last night as the feature in a weekly poetry slam, hosted by the louder arts project of NYC. The crowd was fantastic, & the poets were gracious enough to allow us to perform with some of them as well as do our own set in the middle of the night. Met a lot of really nice people, sold some cds & hopefully made some new friends that we’ll see again when we return to New York. we’d really like to thank our friend Roger Bonair-Agard & all the rest @ the venue for having us, it was an honor to perform w/ all of you. Well, we’re off to Boston in a minute or so, I just wanted to check in…until tomorrow,
jc
From the Road
11-02-05
Hello all…we are currently making the drive back from Cambridge MA to Brooklyn NY for our ninth show of the trip! Last night’s performance @ the Middle East was fantastic on a number of levels. We got to see some old friends & family ( thanks for making the trip out guys), the club & the staff were exceptional, & on top of everything else we were lucky enough to meet up w/ some of Barret’s dear friends from Framingham who were kind enough to put us up for the night! The set itself was short but well received & even the loss of a guitar strap @ the beginning of the second song didn’t seem to put a damper on things…I believe we’re getting better @ all of this. A special thanks to all of our friends & families who’ve made this tour so comfortable for us by allowing us to invade their homes & their lives over the last ten days or so, namely the Zahners (MA), & the Condrons (both in Philly & NJ). Heading west on 90…beautiful day, beautiful scenery…what a job! I’ll write again after our show @ Trash Bar. Thanks for checking in,
jc
From the Road
11-03-05
Greetings from New Jersey! Hello all, just wanted to take a minute to let everyone know how our show @ Trash Bar in Brooklyn went last night. Much easier to navigate the monster van on these streets than in Manhattan, & we actually got a parking spot directly in front of the club ( that never happens). The bartender was very nice…we wound up getting to town about an hour earlier than expected ( again, that never happens), so we got the chance to wander around Williamsburg for a little while & had an amazing dinner @ a Thai restaurant on Bedford ave. The club was a very cozy place w/ a great feel to it, & it was good to see some friendly faces in the audience again…thanks to all who made it out! We played a short set to start the evening off, & aside from me kicking jeff’s pedals across the stage @ the beginning of the show, I think it all went very well. We got to hang out afterwards w/ Roger & the gang from the poetry slam on Monday night, & then it was back to Jersey for the evening & a night cap @ Applebees! Back to Manhattan in about an hour or so for our final New York gig, & then off to Philly to finish out the trip! We got to spend the day @ the ocean today…unbelievable. The weather has been fantastic for most of the tour. Anyway, I’ll check in again tomorrow for those of you who are still tracking this whole thing…until then,
jc
From the Road
11-04-05
Well, it’s Friday afternoon & we’re back in Philly. Last night we performed @ the Bowery Poetry club in New York for what was our last show of the trip…& what a great send off! For some reason there was almost no traffic heading in to the city & for the 2 nd consecutive night we got a spot right in front of the club for the van! We had the opportunity to walk across the street & check out the legendary CBGB, birth place of many of our favorite bands, which is actually suppose to close in the near future…what a loss…anyway, it was nice to be able to see it one last time before it’s gone. The set was slightly longer than the last few nights & we were joined on stage by some very talented local poets for a couple of numbers before launching into our last few songs of the tour. The crowd was one of the best of the last 2 weeks, & the set ended with a sing along to the chorus of “my own device”…how fitting. The staff & regulars of this Bowery ave. institution were wonderful to us & it was yet another night of welcoming back some of the best friends a band could hope to have anywhere ( you guys have made this past couple of weeks a pleasure for us) not a single night has passed without at least a couple of friendly faces in the audience (that’s 5 state’s worth of shows for those of you who are counting!). jeff had a bit of a rough night (we believe food poisoning was to blame) but he seems to be feeling a little better now, needless to say he missed our triumphant return to steve’s prince of steaks for our final philly cheese steak…the “lads” may never be the same. Tonight we’re keeping it “low-key” & preparing for the long ride back to Illinois. It’s been a wonderful experience & I’m sure we’ll be talking about this trip for a while to come. Thanks again to everyone who helped to make it possible for us to pull this off. I’ll write again tomorrow one last time from the road…good night for now,
jc
From the Road
11-07-05
We made it! Here we are back in Illinois, & we couldn’t be happier w/ the way the entire trip turned out. The shows were all successful on a number of levels, & we definitely laid the ground work for what we believe will be a number of future trips back to the East coast. I can’t tell you how good it was to see so many old friends after all this time…I hope you are all well. Over the next couple of weeks we’ll be looking @ video footage, sifting through photos & remembering stories from this trip that will be told over & over again I’m sure… What a blast! We really need to thank some of the people who made the trip possible, namely… christian & jen @ thebizbox.com, laird ozmon, john & donna condron, brian & val condron, the zahners, mark eleveld from e-m press, all the booking agents & club owners who allowed us to perform @ their venues, Ed Johnson(you were missed), the entire gang @ Chicago st. pub, brent james for posting all of my ramblings, triz for picking up all the slack in my absence, & jill for being so understanding of it, ger, jay, ray, joey, & jim for opening up the first show…awesome, all who helped us in any way to pull this off, & all who came out to support us along the way. We are a lucky group of guys, to have friends & family like you! The band would like to send a special thanks out to Kevin Dillon, who volunteered 2 weeks worth of his time & sanity to get in the van & look out for us on the road…truly one of a kind, & we definitely needed it & appreciate it! There are a lot more people to thank & I apologize if I’ve left any one of you out, much like the photos that will be popping up, so to will the faces & stories that have escaped me at the moment…we’re all still trying to digest the whirlwind that this tour has been. Thanks also to anyone who has sent pictures or comments to us…we’re looking forward to seeing & hearing much more from all of you in the near future (please send anything you have or have to say to jkc72@msn.com) I’d like to take a moment to personally thank jeff bella & barret harvey for their time, talent, professionalism & most of all their friendship…my stock as a musician & a person has benefited immensely from time spent w/ these lads & I couldn’t imagine having taken this trip w/ anyone else! well, goodbye for now…thanks for everything, & we sincerely hope to see you all very soon…until then,
jc |
