Sunday, January 30, 2005
Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival
For those of you looking for information about the upcoming Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival, I should have the new web site at least partially ready by the time we get back in the US on Friday, February 4.In a nutshell we're holding a festival at the Mountain Arts Community Center, MACC for short, atop beautiful Signal Mountain which is just a couple of miles outside of Chattanooga, TN. Our working theme is "A non-traditional approach to traditional instruments."
Instructors so far include (in alphabetical order):
Christy Burns
Randy Clepper
Dan Landrum
Bob McMurray
Stephen Seifert
Butch Ross
Mark Alan Wade
Email me with any questions at dan@danlandrum.com and keep checking back for greater detail!
Busy in Buffalo
It is nearly 3 in the afternoon and I'm just now settling down in my hotel room. David, Zach and I ran to the mall, yes - to an Apple store, so Zach could buy a Mac-Mini for his brother, and so David could seek help with issues we've been having with the Superdrives in our Powerbooks. The store was unfortunately out of the minis and they didn't have parts to correct David's problem. I was fortunate that they had a replacement for my drive which they installed while we had coffee.We head to the arena at 4:20 to get ready for the last of seven shows in a row and while all may appear cool, even energetic on the surface during the show, nerves are a bit frayed behind the scenes. Everyone is tired and needs a break which we'll get in London Ontario tomorrow. The bus ride should only take about 3 hours if all goes well at the border crossing.
I won't know until we get there if I'll have affordable internet access at the hotel. If I disappear from my journal for a few days you'll know why.
I have some good pictures from just before the show last night. I'll try to post them later this afternoon.
Sunday Morning
Hello from the back of bus 2 where it is now a few minutes after 8am and we are just a few miles from Buffalo. Our trip from Manchester overnight has taken quite a bit longer than we expected but I haven't gone up front yet to find out why. Generally if something has gone wrong, and people have been up most of the night. It is a good idea to keep your nose out.I saw the crew busses pass us a half hour ago, and they had time to tear down the Manchester show from last night and still beat us!
I really can't complain as I slept well in my noisy bottom bunk and had quite vivid dreams. They were of course of being trapped inside a large, loud vibrating can that was hurling through the cosmos on a ribbon of asphalt, but still I dreamt, so I know I slept.
Tonight is the last of seven shows in a row. It has been great to have strongly enthusiastic audiences the last couple of nights to energize us. How can you not get a little fired up in front of 8000 screaming fans like we had in Montreal, or the slightly smaller, but equally loud crowd last night in Manchester. It was the first time I've seen beach balls flying around the audience during one of these shows. That was fun.
We just pulled off the highway in Buffalo so we must be nearing the hotel. Gotta run, that is if I can still walk.
Friday, January 28, 2005
Cold
The high temperature was in the single digits today in Montreal. Last night as we crossed northern New York's Adirondack Mountains the temp was around minus 20.Behind Schedule
Sound check was delayed over an hour this afternoon as the crew is still scrambling to be ready show time which is a less than an hour away. The work done by the crew here is incredible and incredibly demanding. We all know the show will be ready even even if they're working up to the last second. (See my post from earlier this morning to learn why we're running so lat.e)We arrived at the Montreal Ritz-Carlton around 10:15 this morning. I noted last night that our busses left the parking garage of the Worcester venue at 11:06. Yes, that was a long bus ride.
I had brunch with Pedro, David, Bobby (one of the bus drivers), Erika, Zach, Hussain and Walter. After that I practiced my linear chromatic hammer dulcimer for a couple of hours, splitting my time between a new tune I've been writing, and learning the fiddle tune 'Flop-eared Mule.' Our road manager, Kujo, called to say we'd be getting a late start tonight so I had time to exercise, and do a little computer work as well. I'm trying to re-learn some Macromedia Flash techniques that I didn't know I'd forgotten until I started working on my web site update for the Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival.
We expect around 8 thousand people for tonight's show so it should be a good time. After that we get back on the busses, head back to another border crossing, and then to Manchester, NH. Let's hope all goes smoothly tonight for our fifth straight show in a seven show run.
Friday Morning at the Border
Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday. I spent the entire day doing tasks involving our upcoming Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival, plus working on a new song.The festival is shaping up nicely and our latest news is that mountain dulcimer player Steve Seifert is on board! I'm trying to get a few Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival web pages up an running in the next couple of days. I'm behind schedule on this as the Dulcimer Players News magazine comes out any day now, and it contains an ad pointing to this web site for more information.
It is Friday morning now and we have been sitting at the border crossing for almost five hours now. We still have a couple hours ahead of us to drive. It is going to be a very tight day for the crew as they are stuck behind us and haven't even gotten to see the border crossing officers yet. Hopefully we'll be moving again soon. No one is telling us anything regarding the hold up so we're all just waiting it out. It is cold enough here in the back lounge that I can see my breath!
Last night's Worcester audience was fired up and the show was fun. Thanks! I didn't go out to the lobby after the show as I wanted to get back on the bus and try and finish some workshop tasks before we lost our internet connection at the border.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Mohegan Goodbye
A rather rowdy crowd tonight at the Mohegan Sun made for a really fun concert. I'm reminded once again what an important role the audience plays in the energy level at a show. Thanks folks for your applause and smiles and to all of you I met in the lobby -- sign the guest book and say hello!
The picture to the right is a drawing that was done for me tonight by a little girl name Stephanie. David and I talked to Stephanie and her mom Sarina this morning before breakfast in the hotel lobby. Thanks for the picture!
We're in the bus right now driving to Worcester, MA where we'll perform the fourth of seven shows in a row. It is a short drive, about an hour and a half, and everyone seems to be holding up well.
Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT
It is snowing cats and dogs here in Uncasville, white ones of course. Fortunately we have a rather short drive after tonight's show up to Worcester.This hotel is my favorite of all the places we've ever stayed. The decor is very earthy and if you ignore the fact that the beautiful tile work, intertwined tree bark, massive beadwork canopies and water features are hiding a casino, it is pleasant to walk around. I'll try and grab a few pictures today. I just posted some photographs from Albany and New York. View them by using the Photographs link.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Albany, NY
I really enjoyed last night’s Radio City Music Hall performance and hated to say goodbye to such a beautiful hall and great acoustics.Tonight we’re back in a hockey arena here in Albany. The sound crew actually enjoys the reverb thickened sound that arena’s produce. I prefer the crispness of a theatre. It forces everyone to be on their toes and I think we played better than ever in Radio City knowing that every note was distinguishable.
Our blizzard shuffled schedule means tonight is the second of seven straight shows. We’ll all be zombies by the weekend and I’m glad to have finally gotten the hang of sleeping on the bus. It was more than a matter of just getting used to it, I had to find the right bunk.
Since we began touring in 2003 I’ve always had a top or middle row bunk. No one else wanted to get a bottom row bunk so I thought there must be a reason, and I got my choice of one of the 'better' bunks each time. Since the other two options didn’t work for me I thought I’d give it one more shot and go for the floor. It turns out that the bottom bunks are colder and more noisy than the other bunks. I sleep better when I’m cool and the constant noise drowns out the human noises on the bus so I’m not waking up as much. Yippee!
Today was a productive work day as I put in a few hours planning and practicing for the upcoming Chattanooga Riverfront Grand Opening concert that I’ll perform with Zach, Hussain and the Chattanooga Symphony in May. I learned today from CSO executive director John Wehrle that maestro Bob Bernhardt won’t be available to direct that performance. That’s too bad. I like working with Bob. John isn’t sure yet who’ll be sitting in that day.
Show time is about an hour away so I have to go tune.
Sunday, January 23, 2005
About Yesterday
In a previous post, I promised more detail about our adventure in the blizzard yesterday. The real story begins Friday night when I warily told David that I'd go running around with him and a police officer buddy of his on Saturday. I wanted to go. After all, we're in New York City with free time, but on the other hand there was this blizzard approaching, plus I've had an awful back ache for several days now. Little did I know, it was about to get worse.Prior to and during Friday night's show I was having severe back cramps. Having endured similar spasms about 5 years ago that ended with a trip to the emergency room and a quick education in kidneys stones, I warned a few band members about what to do if I suddenly began crawling around and howling during the performance. If you've ever had a kidney cramp you'll know what I'm talking about. Angie had reminded me on the phone earlier Friday evening that if I was indeed dealing with stones, I'd probably end up with severe nausea and other fun symptoms as well. I made it through the show and returned to my hotel room. My back was really bothering me and I couldn't get to sleep. Around 1 a.m. I decided to see if I could walk it off. I bundled up and went walking around the city. Don't ask me why, I think I was delirious. I was also beginning to feel nauseated. Hoping that maybe a little food would settle my stomach I only had to forage for a few minutes in the city that never sleeps. By 2 a.m., I realized that I'd made a serious mistake. You can probably guess what I did for the next couple of hours. The good news is, the kidney stone crises is over.
I don't know when I finally fell asleep but I know exactly when I woke up. My cell phone rang.
Angie called me at 8:52 a.m., and I told her I'd have to call her back. I gave David a quick call and he happened to be on the phone with our host who was now 5 minutes from pulling up to our hotel. I don't like to cancel things at the last minute so I brushed my teeth, threw on warm clothes and headed to the lobby. I was sleepy but I felt great and haven't had a spasm since.
I was also very hungry and thought we'd probably go get breakfast first. Things didn't work out that way though. Our first stop was about a 40 minute drive to a store that sells police gear. David had told Allen, our host, that he was interested in buying some police issue boots that he could wear while riding his motorcycle.
The store had every piece of police paraphernalia you can image. It looked like some sort of leather fetish supply and it was only a little surprising to see a picture on the wall of Michael Jackson posing with one of the store owners.
David didn't buy any boots, but I almost bought a pair of waterproof street beat shoes. The price was right, and there was a blizzard coming so perhaps my tennis shoes might be a little inadequate, but a complete lack of remaining free space in my suitcase was the deciding factor. We left the police store with only a few souvenirs for gifts and headed to the Freeport Police Station where Allen works.
Allen has a very interesting job that requires quite a bit of secrecy so suffice it to say David and I enjoyed the tour, and I left with a greater respect for those who put their lives on the line every day to protect us from dangers both at home and abroad.
After we left the station we drove to Long Island's famous Nautical Mile. It was too cold to do much besides snap pictures and get back in the car. It was now noon, and the snow was beginning right on schedule. We still hadn't made it to a restaurant. I was getting very hungry as I had, well, disposed of all of my food the night before. We had a short visit at Allen's house and met is wife, daughter and dogs before finally pulling up to a diner around 12:30. We were supposed to be back by now and I was beginning to get a bit worried as the snowfall began to stick.
Our lunch/breakfast was great (I had an Athenian Omelet), and an hour slipped by as we got carried away in good conversation. As we left the diner the accumulation had reached about an inch, the wind was beginning to pick up and the flakes were getting larger.
About that time Alfreda gave me a call on my cell phone to let me know the show was still on, but there was a chance that our hotel might be sold out for the night and we had to have our luggage ready to at 3pm. Uh oh. We were in trouble. Allen said our quickest option to get back was to take the train. He took us to the Freeport station and as we pulled up a train headed to New York pulled out. The next train wouldn't be there for 40 minutes, unless it was further delayed by the ever increasing snowfall.
Allen agreed to drive us back, estimating that we'd probably make it with ten minutes to spare. He pulled onto the highway and dialed in a traffic report which was overflowing with bad news about worsening road conditions. Twenty minutes later we'd only made it a few miles toward town and we decided to look for another train station.
Allen asked for directions at a gas station and we found our way to an out of the way stop. There were no maps, no schedules and very little shelter. Allen used his cell phone to determine that we'd have about a 20 minute wait for the next train, which we'd take to the Jamaica station, switch trains and travel by subway to Penn station. Alfreda and Hussain were checking up on us about every ten minutes, making sure the 'bumpkins' didn't end up Jersey.
Finally some good news. Alfreda called and said that the show was still on, but we'd be staying overnight in our same hotel so it was OK that we weren't going to make it back by baggage pull time. I relaxed a little but still worried that we might have a tough time making it back for sound check.
Somewhere between Jamaica and Penn station we learned the show was cancelled. Whew! Since we didn't have to be back at any definite time we decided to extend our journey and find the Apple store in SOHO. It took a little longer than it should have but we eventually figured out the rail system with only a couple of unnecessary rides.
We exited the subway at Spring street, leaned into the wind and crunched our way to 103 Prince Street. The Apple store was packed like a night club. The floor was wall to wall wet with melting detritus of slush from customer's shoes.
We played with new toys, I posted a web update and we watched it get dark and colder outside even as the wind grew luminous with glowing snow.
The white sidewalks and snow-filtered street lights made all the stores look warm and inviting on our walk back. The giggles of a pink faced, down and polyester encased three year old boy caught my attention as he hurled snowballs at his dad. This is the good stuff. It didn't even bother me that it was too wet and windy to capture the scene with my camera.
David and I made it back to the Radio City subway station around nine. We went to the front door to see if there was any notice of the cancellation and as I pulled out my camera I was stopped by security people. An officer asked why I wanted to take a picture of the sign on the door and I told her David and I were in the band. She smiled and said "If I were you I'd keep that to myself, because there are some people here who'd like to lynch you!" We slipped away quietly, feeling bad for those who didn't get word about the cancellation.
Rather than head back to the hotel we found a warm place to eat and toasted the end of an enjoyable day.
Back in the Hotel
David and I took our time returning home this evening. I'll post a new round of pictures on Sunday instead of tonight. I did prepare a little quicktime move made from a few of the Radio City pictures. Use the Photographs link to navigate to the 2005 pictures section.Saturday, January 22, 2005
The blizzard of 2005
Here's a brief accounting of what has gone on so far today - David Hudson and I started out this morning on a tour of New York City with a policeman friend of David's. Adventure seems to seek us out.The plan was for Allen, our host, to show us around the city, take us to Long Island to visit his precinct and at some point take us to an Apple Store so David could by the new Mac Mini. Oh yeah, David wanted to buy some real police issue boots, so the first stop was a small policeman's supply store in Long Island.
We were very aware of the impending blizzard and planned to be back at the hotel by 1pm at the latest. In a series of events that I'll chronicle later we ended up saying goodbye to allen and waiting in the snow for a train in Long Island to take us back to New York City through a snow storm.
On the way we were notified by cell phone that the show for tonight has been rescheduled. I'll talk more about that later this evening when we get the official notice of the new show time. Anyway we were already running late, and since the show was cancelled, we decided to take trains to the downtown SOHO district and walk to the Apple Store. That is where we are now, having just walked about 8 blocks through nearly blinding snow that is rapidly accumulating. We figured since the storm hit the place would be deserted. Wrong. We're here and warm and the store is packed with a bunch of other folks who thought the same thing. The items we intended to purchase are mostly sold out so we're going to hang out for a while and make our way back to the hotel.
I have a bunch of great pictures to post from last night's show so check back later for more news and pictures. - Dan
Friday, January 21, 2005
Sound Check at Radio City
I walked back to the hotel room after our sound check at Radio City Music Hall. I snapped a few pictures while there which you can see by clicking the Photographs link.Our next two show's at Radio City are going to be in front of a sold out house. We're looking forward to the loud, proud, New York crowd. This should be fun!
New York, New York
I just got back from breakfast with David Hudson at the Manhattan Cafe here in New York City. It was only a couple of blocks from the hotel but David, who is used to Cairnes' tropical weather, nearly froze. It is hard to imagine what it feels like for the guy who spends his day inside the wooden news stand which is just outside the cafe front door.We had the first of three shows last night at Radio City. It was my first time there and it is a beautiful theatre with a rich history. I wasn't sure about the rules concerning photography so I didn't take my camera. I'll make up for it tonight though.
I also hope to walk down to Central Park today and take some pictures.
Thanks to everyone who signed my guest book with birthday greetings! Take a look at Alfreda Gerald's diary (http://www.alfredagerald.com) for a picture from my party in Wilkes-Barre, or was it a roast?
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Happy Birthday to me!
Greetings from Wilkes-Barre, PA where it has been snowing all day and just about anything that can be cancelled has been. It is just too cold and wet to go outside so I've spent my 44th birthday in my hotel room practicing.
We head to the arena around 4 this afternoon where we'll restart our familiar routine of tuning, soundcheck, dinner, and performance. Tonight's is the first of 29 shows that will keep us in the frozen north for the next 3 weeks.
The photos to the right are out of our latest tour book.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
A cold morning in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania
The winter 2005 leg of my adventure on the road arrived on the scene much too quickly. It gets harder and harder to say goodbye to my family and leave my home in which I'm very content for 5 weeks of hotels and bumpy bus rides.But, off I go, reminding myself how blessed I am to have a wonderful family and home to which I'll be welcomed back soon. It is supposed to be hard leave so I know something is right, even though it feels wrong. It will be good seeing fans again and hanging out with my buddies on the road.
I spent MLK day hopping from plane to plane which hopped from city to city before depositing me in Newark, where we boarded our tour busses. We motored the final two hours to Wilkes-Barre. Everyone was tired, hungry and thirsty and a little dissapointed there was no food or water on our bus. We survived.
Just about everybody in the band could be found in the hotel restaurant last night. Everything on the menu was a little pricey but no one wanted to venture outside. I had dinner with Pedro Eustache, David Hudson, Hussain Jiffry, Ramone Flores, Walter Rodriguez and Zachary Carettin.
This morning I awoke, rotated open the shades on my hotel room window to see sunshine defracted through an ice-laden bush. No, it wasn't a dream. I really am back on the road again and the temperature here is 6 degrees! I noticed in the USA Today this morning that northern Minnesota had a record low yesterday of -52 degrees, so +6 feels warm.
I bundled up and took a short walk outside but it is really too cold to be enjoyable. I snapped a photo of Laurel Run Creek which is near our hotel.
We have a rehearsal scheduled for this afternoon at Wachovia Arena.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Update Complete
I just finished the Photographs Page remodel. Give it a click, but if it looks like nothing has changed, hit the refresh button on your browser.For those of you who are interested in such things, I have now put all my pictures on Apple's dotmac site. The only thing I really don't like about this is that I lost all my comments. Apple's has announced a major iPhoto update to be released on January 22, and I hope it will correct this issue. It will be very easy for me to maintain a larger public photo library now as I have a full gig of space for pictures on dotmac.
The new pictures are from a hike yesterday at Foster Falls, which is about a half-hour from my house. Angie, Missy and I, along with most of the Steffes family walked a portion of the 'Fiery Gizzard Trail.'
Web Site Maintenance
I'm doing a little cleaning on my web site today in preparation for heading back out on the next Yanni Tour leg tomorrow. The Photographs link might be a little flakey while I'm moving and archiving.Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Winter Break
My first Christmas gig came just a couple of days after I arrived home, it was a Christmas Party. A few days after that I played for the Tennessee Aqaurium's member night party. The following day Angie, Jeremy, Missy and I all drove to Nashville and caught a plane to Chicago for a quick getaway and some time together without the distractions of home. It was very, very, cold but we still had a good time and rode the CTA trains to and fro for several days. We shopped, looked at art, saw Dickens "A Christmas Carol," toured the Shedd Aquarium and watched the Blue Man Group show.Our plan was to drive from Nashville to Missouri to visit family but when we landed in an ice covered Nashville and learned that the roads were even worse to the north and west, we decided to go back to Chattanooga. The following night, Christmas Eve, we spent with our friends Jim and Cathy Steffes and their children.
A couple of days after Christmas my friends Butch Ross and Christie Burns drove down from Kentucky for a visit. They are both attending Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green where they're working on master's degrees in folklore. Christie is a wonderful hammer dulcimer player who organized and directed the Cork, Ireland Dulcimer Festival in 2003 and 2004. Her fiance, Butch is a great singer as was as mountain dulcimer and guitar player. They joined in and we were a big hit at Rock City and at a wedding reception we played together. I hope we get to play again soon! Look for Christy and Butch to be involved in our upcoming Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival!
I also took them on a couple of hikes, one of which Angie and my friend Philip Luckey joined.
Angie and I have been busy working in our garage. We are trying to put together a little wood working shop where we can putter around and maybe even build a little furniture.
I have a couple more gigs coming up in the next few days including a public concert at the downtown branch of the Chattanooga Bicentennial Library this Saturday at 3pm. It's free but come early as we had a full house for this concert last year.
Click here to see the latest photos.