Thu, Apr 17, '03 11:23 am Tour Diary: day 4

I woke up tired but happy. Tom had already planned our day for us,..lol

So off we went to a cafe for some coffee (he knew at this point that we were addicts and couldn't survive without it) we spent a good part of the morning in a small park eating and listening to some jazz music. We all got some yummy food and talked and laughed (and got some sunburn). We then went to the UNC campus, got to see the Chapel Hill well and the campus grounds and walked down Franklin street, checking out the various stores.

We all decided to catch a snack and wound up at a conveyor belt sushi type of restaurant. Now IÕve never been to one of these places, (yum yum,. ) We went for a snack and after about 4 plates of sushi each we left,..rolling out one by one. Back to Tom and Mellissa's houses for a quick nap and some rest before soundcheck at Temple Ball.

So again, off we went to Temple Ball. Lisa Ray opened up the evening with a short set of her original music. She was fantastic, and she has an amazing beautiful voice! Then Steele, Rich and I went on. We played an hour long set and had a blast,.and Vienna Teng finished off the evening. Up till now, I had heard of her through the grapevine, we have some mutual friends, as I found out later, I was very excited to hear her music,...She did a beautiful set and ending off with a song in Chinese which was absolutely beautiful.

After the show we all piled out in our cars and went out for mexican food. yum yum lots of laughs lots of hugs and "see ya next years" my NYC friend, Judy, who recently tranplanted herself in NC, came to the show and along for the ride,..it's great to see old friends and have the chance to catch up. too bad we didn't have more time,..once again,.. next year,..

Thu, Apr 17, '03 11:38 am Tour Diary: day 6

Argh. I was tired,..I woke up realizing Ihad to do a quick "gtr only recording" of "it's what you said" in the basement of my parent's house with our portable DAT recorder,..thankfully we brought it along!

After a full afternoon, Rich and I were off to Trenton to see Steph Furness. Rich had a gig in NYC so he left pretty swiftly,..Steph, the hostess of the Urban Word Cafe's open mic night in Trenton, invited me to be the featured performer there,.. so here I was. You know, Trenton's not all that bad! The homes were huge and beautiful! Steph and I have met only once at Meow Mix, but she was such a great person to hang with! We had lunch, then went back to her house talked and laughed,..then we went to the Urban Word,.. unfotunatly, the house wasn't too packed this particular evening,.. but I had a great time regardless. I did a short solo set, and I wound up also freestyling with a guy who brought his computer in. (he programs beats) it took a minute to get a groove going on, but once I did, it was a lot of fun.

Back to Steph's house we went and it was beddie-by time after a long fun day!

Fri, Apr 18, '03 12:01 pm Toru Diary: day 7

I woke up pleasantly rested for a change,..It's nice to know I had the day off from playing. Steph wasn't feeling well so she wound up playing hooky from school and made an appointment to see the school health center,.. So we enjoyed breakfast together,..did some more talking, some more laughing,.. she's awesome, I"m so glad we had the opportunity to hang out. It's funny, There are so many people you know casually but how well do you really know them? How many performers do you meet on a day to day basis, hang out for an hour or so and keep in touch every so often,..what a nice change of pace to really get to know someone during a tour. It was refreshing!

Rich made it back to Trenton around 4p and off we went back to De. We had a very special dinner engagement tonight!

I have a few good friends who still live in the DE area. Once in a while we have the chance to get together and catch up. This evening my best friend from high school and I are going out to dinner! My friend Jen and I have known each other since homeroom in 9th grade. what a hoot right? I am very happy that we've remained friends for so long! In many ways I consider her a family member! we went to Germany together our last year in High school as exchange students,.. ahh memories,.. She's an accupunturist now in the DE/PA area. I'm a proud friend! lol She was accompanied by our longtime friend, Robbie, who I haven't seen in years! What a great time we had. If anyone in the DE area hasn't made it to Ali Baba on Main street in Newark,..What are you waiting for? We had planned to go to Casablanca but we all decided to stay local,. and since Ali Baba is owned by the same people we decided to give it a try,. Now, Robbie has been going there since it opened,..Everytime I've been in DE, we've driven by that place and I keep saying i want to go there and never have,..what yummy food! the carrot salad is amazing! Rich, Robbie and Jen got the spicy moroccan chicken,..I decided on the roasted chicken,..i didn't want to be beathing fire from the wrong end all night, if you know what i mean,..lol lol sorry if I"m being too descriptive,.anyway,..we had a great time,.. We then went to Robbie's house and met with the cats and we took a nice walk together,..all in all a great evening of catch up. Hopefully Jen will be stopping by on Monday before we're off again. I'm so glad we had the time to get together!

Fri, Apr 18, '03 12:10 pm Tour diary: day 8

Again, woke up well rested,..a change of pace,.I'm still not used to it! We have a show in Doylestown and I'm not sure where it is,..

fast forward:

we made it!

sort of,.. we didn't know there were 2 coffee beanery's! The directions stated it was on rt 611 next to the regal theatre,.got it! BUT turns out someone else was playing there that night,..we talked,..

I realized I was in the wrong store and we found the right one! lol lol what's the chance of that happening? what is it? the coffee beanery is the starbucks of doylestown? a coffee beanery next to every regal theatre on rt 611? lol it's turning into NYC,..you can't even say "meet me at the stabucks on 23rd street",.which one???? there are 15 of them on 23rd street!

anyway,..you NY peeps know what i mean,.it's sad really,.. The Coffee Beanery was fairly busy and jesse the host was not only a great host but an wonderful talent! phew my man can write a song! He's a really great performer! Rich joined me for most of the set, we had a really great time,.I have to admit, I wasn't really on top of my game this evening,..I think I got too much sleep,.lol I always play better when i'm beat, although i obsess more,..lol I can't win either way,.

I met some really nice folks at this show,..everyone was attentive and I got some great feedback,..Sounds like we'll be back in the Doylestown area with Jesse again soon! I hope so! it was a lot of fun! Hopefully I'll get to see all the new faces I met once again very soon!

Sat, Apr 19, '03 10:52 am tour diary: day 9

It's raining,..it's icky,.. but,..no gigs tonight! whaa and yee-ha all at once,..

Rich and I went out to dinner with my Dad. I won't mention the restaurant, it wasn't very good,..

After dinner we headed into downtown Wilmington (DE) to see my Mom's choir performance of Mozart's requiem mass in St. Peter's Catherdral. It is my favorite choral piece in the world! They did a wonderful job,..there was even an orchestra. Very nice indeed,..they also did some other short spiritual pieces,. Can't say I've ever been a fan of "traditional" choirs doing spirituals,..It kind of reminds me of Kathleen Battle (a world reknowned opera singer) doing "negro spirituals" with Wynton Marsalis,..snore,..I'll take Mahalia Jackson any day! but regardless,.it was really nice, they did a beautiful job,..and I'm not saying that just because my mom's in the choir,..lol I wish I could remember the one short piece,.it was beautiful,..I'll have to ask her who wrote it,..not that anyone reading this really cares,.lol it's for my own personal knowledge,.

It turns out my sister's godmother, who is a long time friend of my parent's, was at the concert,..I used to play with her daughter when I was a kid,..It just so happens that she was working down the street so after the concert, we piled in the car to go see her. Her name is Erin,..I haven't seen her in at least 15 years,.. what a great thing,..to see someone after such a long period of time,..I was so glad she remembered me,..funny thing,..she said she thinks of me everytime she hears that Rick Springfield song, "jesse's girl", because when we were kids we listened to it ad nauseum! Crazy right? So,..we we exchanged numbers,.the whole bit,..hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch! I hope so!

(So Erin, if you're reading this,..it was great to see you and keep in touch! lol) We met my mom at a restaurant afterwards, got some food,..came home,..talked politics with my Dad until 2:30 am,..dum de dum,..a nice evening all around! tonight we're off to Danville, PA,..it's kinda far,.a little farther than i had anticipated actually,.but i think it'll be a good time!more g-news to come!