Here are photos and some journal entries from my time on the road. Do you have a picture I should include? Send it to me (mara at maralevi.com)!
DC Pride '08 - lots more fun in the sun!
As usual, DC Pride was a HOT one. We managed to stay hydrated and to meet some new friends. I think it's also important that
you know what's going on with my forehead in this picture:
You see, a few days earlier, I was playing SOFTBALL for the Task Force
Softball team, when an errant grounder found its way to my forehead. No, I did not get stitches in the hospital -
those are an IMPRINT from the ball. You'll be glad to know that I look relatively normal now, but there was a week in there
where I had a lot of explaining to do. People were surprisingly nice about NOT staring at the marks on my forehead.
I guess I'm the only one that does that...
The rain in Milwaukee stays mostly in Milwaukee
Okay, so Milwaukee Pride is a pretty big deal as far as Pride festivals go. It's a huge festival on the grounds of
Milwaukee SummerFest, and they have lots of stages, and LOTS of people, and great headliners and all the rest.
So who wouldn't jump at the chance to play there? AND, who could have foreseen that there would be a major (did
I say major? That's an understatement - unprecedented might be better) storm system that would SIT directly on top of
Milwaukee for 48 hours? Following is the story of how I got to Milwaukee Pride, and why I was one of the lucky ones:
Knowing that airplane travel can sometimes be unpredictable, I scheduled myself a flight for Saturday evening even
though my performance was on Sunday afternoon. We left DC on time, and got word from the pilot that there was
rain in Milwaukee, but that they were expecting it to blow over by the time it was time for us to land. Of course,
it did not blow over. It stayed right where it was, dumping so much rain on Milwaukee that they actually had to CLOSE
the airport down due to flooding problems on the runways! So we were diverted to a lovely airport in Moline, IL
(the Quad cities airport for those of you who are familiar with the region). It was about 7PM when we landed, and we
were told that we were just going to sit in the airport until Milwaukee reopened, and then we'd go back. Unfortunately,
Moline's airport generally closes at about 6PM, so there were no places to eat - there was one snack shop that sold
chex mix and trail mix and other food in bags, but that was all there was.
** An aside. Many of you do not know me well enough to know that if I don't eat every 2 hours or so, I turn into the
Incredible Grump. Sad, but true.**
So eventually we learned that Milwaukee's airport would NOT be reopening, but that the airline was going to try to
charter buses to get us all to Milwaukee that night. Try is the operative word in that sentence. And try they may have
done, but to no avail. By 11pm, they had offloaded all of our baggage, but had not offered us any word on the bus
situation. By this time, all of the rental car companies in the airport had rented out the last of their available cars,
and hotels in the area had filled up. Grumpy and close to tears, and faced with the prospect of being one of the
people you see on the news sleeping in an airport during bad weather, I made a last-ditch effort at the rental car window
that, for some reason, still had people standing around it. "You don't have ANY cars left?" I asked, looking as sweet
and endearing as I could. "Are you traveling alone?" was the response from the woman behind the counter. "Why, yes,"
I responded, hopeful for the first time in several hours. It turns out that Budget was willing to rent out cars that
they had promised for future days IF and ONLY IF the cars would be FULL of passengers. So they rented out a big Suzuki
SUV to me and 4 other lovely ladies and 1 7-month old baby, and we began our drive from Moline to Milwaukee. I got to
my Aunt and Uncle's house at 4:30am, and slept until 8:30 when I had to go RETURN that rental car, and pick up the car
I had originally reserved for myself (from another company, of course).
The other problem was, that it was STILL raining in Milwaukee. They had gotten 5 inches of rain in 1 day (my Aunt informed
me that this was the equivalent of 60 inches of snow in one day). That's a lot of precipitation. AND, it was still
coming down. Hopeful, I went to the Pride festival anyway, and learned that the stage I was playing on WAS, in fact,
operational. The sad part was that several of the people who had been scheduled to play that morning had NOT had the
opportunity to play because of the rain. So I was lucky that I got to play my full set! And, the 30 people who
braved the elements to come hear me were also lucky. It stayed dry the entire time, and the sun even peeked out from
behind the clouds for an hour or two after my set. Did I sell enough CDs to cover my expenses? no. But I got to play
for new people and I actually made it to the show in one piece. I consider that a major success story. Now, wish me
luck getting home this afternoon!
January '08 - Midwest HERE I COME!
Believe it or not, this is not the first time I have scheduled a tour for myself in some of the coldest parts of the US
during one of the coldest months of the year. What did I learn from my last January Midwest tour? That I can TAKE IT.
That's right, winter, I'm ready for you. PLUS, this time around I will NOT be touring on my own, I'll be travelling
with the lovely, talented, and equally winter-weathered, Emily White.
So I'm packing up my bags tonight, and headed out for a quick family visit (and a big birthday party) before I start
the tour. If you didn't already see it, check out the link to
Fearless Radio where I'll be making a live appearance on Wednesday, Jan 16th before my show at Uncommon Ground with Emily.
Hope to see you out on the road! More to come from the frozen tundra...
Fall on the East Coast '07:
Thoughts on a long but fantastic tour:
1) I have access to a very nice digital camera. I never remember to bring it with me. I'm very very sorry because
there would have been lots of fun (and funny) pictures to show you of the East Coast tour.
2) The major theme of this tour for me was food. Just before the tour started I had some major stomach pains
that prompted me to visit a Naturopath. This friendly doctor recommended serious diet changes for me at least
for a month or two. That meant the following for my time on the road:
- no processed food
- no refined food
- no dairy
- no starch and protein in the same meal
So no fast food for me (not that I ever really eat that anyway) on this trip.
So, with my apologies for not having photographic evidence of the tour, here are my memories, ramblings, and general
thoughts about driving all over the east coast in a small Saturn with some good friends:
I hit the road on October 12th and met up with Camille Bloom (www.camillebloom.com) and Gaelen Billingsly who were waiting
patiently for
me at the Newark airport. The first few shows flew by marked by lots of traffic issues, a very tight squeeze in the car,
and also lots of delicious Northampton food. Notable events:
- Our waitress at Viva Pasta (formerly Fresh Pasta) in Northampton informed us that we should "never trust a skinny waitress" to
give us advice about what food to eat. Whether fair or not, her advice about the food WAS excellent. As was the remesco sauce,
which may or may not have been on my diet.
- While waiting to be seated we spent some relaxing minutes searching through the bookstore next door, where I found a book
that I could not put down. Don't laugh, but it's called "why equal temperament ruined harmony, and why you should care."
As it turns out (I learned a couple of weeks later), that book was just written by a former professor of my father's from when
he was getting his PhD. Anyway, I'm not finished with the book I had started before that, but as SOON as I do, I'm going to
do some serious reading. I love that stuff!
- In Ithaca we stayed with some awesome people and one of their friends happened to be visiting, and happened to be a most
insightful palm reader. It was a pretty intense night, but also really fun. How strange to connect with someone you've just met
in such a personal way. You'd think as a performer that would be normal to me, but apparently I still have a few walls up...
In New York on the 15th, we met up with the fabulous Cristina Orbe (www.cristinaorbe.com) who joined us for the next several shows.
We had a fun but super late night in New York before heading up to Vermont. Cristina took Gaelen's spot in the car which meant that
we had to say good bye to Gaelen, but that we got to squeeze 3 guitars into the car. Camille Bloom can pack a car, I'll say that
about her. I'll say other things too, but at this juncture, the car thing actually makes some sense. Okay, you want me to
say other things about Camille right now? Fine, I will.
- Camille Bloom can sing. Even when her speaking voice is so hoarse that she can barely squeak out words, she can wail on the
microphone.
- Camille Bloom is a most excellent driver, and is capable of speaking with several different accents while driving (including
but not limited to Russian/Eastern European, Southern, and a mix of Jamaican/South African/California Surfer).
- If there are some strange bready balls that come with your meal that you can't eat because of your diet (or just because of
common sense), Camille Bloom will eat them. All.
We played in Vermont AND New Hampshire, and in both places were lucky enough to find delicious vegan food, which was exactly
what I needed on my strange and restrictive diet. We ate at Kismet in Montpelier, which might be my favorite place ever. And
then we played at the North Star Cafe in Portland, where they had desserts made with flour I could eat! I had my only dessert of
the whole tour that night - a delicious beet cake. My dad hates beets, but luckily for me, I don't.
We had to drop Cristina off eventually, but not before she and I did 9 million lunges and squats. She didn't have to stick around
to watch me hobble around on my sore little legs, but Camille was a good sport and didn't complain once about all the whining
I was doing. Well, not to my face anyway. Camille and I wound our way through Albany and down to DC where we had some much-needed
time to relax and catch up on email (and time with kitties for me). By the time we got to Savannah, we were exhausted but not too
tired to practice our accents in the car. It might have been our extreme exhaustion - I don't really remember what we talked
about, only that we found it amusing at the time. My self-censoring button is beeping red here and reminding me that the things
that seemed hilarious to us at the time are probably not that funny, and not worth repeating here. Just trust me. We ate a lot
of nuts.
And then Camille went home and I went to my cousin's wedding (an entirely vegan affair! Yay!) and then I drove up to DC by myself.
Let me tell you, as tough as it was to pack that car full of all of our things (keeping the important items within reach at all
times), it was much more difficult to sit in the car by myself for 11 hours with no one but me speaking in a Scottish accent.
Thanks so much to everyone who made it possible for me to survive this tour, most especially those of you who fed me good food
and who came to support me and Camille and Cristina at our shows. It's so fun to see you and share our time with you. See you
again soon!
Pride Season '07:
There's nothing like playing for a huge crowd of homos in front
of the Capital Building. Makes me smile every time.
I even remembered the words to all of my songs, even as people
attempted to distract me from the crowd.
No comment necessary.
No comment necessary here either.
Thanks DC
My friend Sara from DC AND Baltimore Pride. Sorry I ran out of
CDs at DC Pride. And sorry my shirt has a bad word on it.
It was a hot day though, so this was the best one for the job.
Shirt, that is.
West Coast tour May '07:
The crowd at my first show on the West Coast - Conor Byrne with Camille.
Mischa, one of the sweet and friendly friends I stayed with in Seattle, took some great pictures
during my Seattle show. Not bad, huh?
Always happy when singing...
Mischa knows good looking feet when he sees them.
The next day, my Seattle buddies and I drove down to Portland for the day. Unfortunately,
my jet lag and low blood sugar caught up with me, and I was a little grumpy and hungry
for most of the morning (until I had a nap in the park). But we managed to have a good time
exploring Portland, and we made it safely to my show at Haven Coffee. Unfortunately, we needed to
get back to Seattle that night because we had a big day planned for Sunday. I say that this was unfortunate
because some of the fun people at my show invited us to a party, and we wanted to go. But we couldn't.
Who wants to be the rock star that goes to bed instead of going to the party?!
Then again, we got to go to Pike Place Market the next day, and that was DEFINITELY worth the late night drive.
Especially since I slept for most of the drive. Oops!
I flew from Seattle to San Francisco where I stayed with my little sis. I played my first show there at
CoHo at Stanford for the club called School's Out
as well as some other lovely Stanford students. It was a beautiful sunny day - can you tell I got a tan?
Not sure how my sister (who was driving) felt about it, but I was so intrigued by the fog we were about to
drive into, so I took about 10 pictures of it. Here is one of them.
No slouch with the camera is my sister. She had fun being artistic and trying to get a picture of me to rival
her favorite picture of the dude from Bright Eyes. I think it's pretty good.
Playing and singing some more.
Apparently those shoes look really good on me - I didn't even tell my sis about the other shoe picture. Hope
she's not offended that I have 2.
One of the best things about touring is getting to catch up with old friends (and by old, I mean long-time dear
friends, all of whom are very very very young). Here I am with some of my buddies from my
college a cappella group (the DQ) and some of their
friends. Look - they brought me flowers!
Next stop: Colorado. I flew into Denver, and then had a long drive through the mountains to get to
Cedaredge where I played at the Stone Forest
Retreat Center. I stopped to take many of the pictures here because if I hadn't I probably would have
driven off the side of a mountain. See - I can be pragmatic when I have to be.
I love it - it was probably 65 degrees outside, but there's still snow on top of the mountains!
The Geodesic Dome where I had my first concert - you can't see, but there's a tiny little sanctuary for
rabbits and squirels just outside the window. I was worried a deer would come and listen, and I would
miss it because I had my back to the window during the show. If that did happen, no one in the audience
reacted. Maybe deer don't like rock and roll.
Next day I had an outdoor concert in downtown Grand Junction. Here I am hamming it up for
the camera. If you look closely at my right arm, you can see the remains of my temporary tatoo
which was a band around my arm. Which I put on slightly crooked.
The dome and snow-capped mountains beyond. This was NOT an easy place to leave!
Jeff and Miranda were one of the highlights of my Boulder show.
Thanks guys! See you soon!
East Coast tour with Camille Bloom April '07:
Guitars waiting for a show outside of Philadelphia. I did 8 shows in 12 days on the East coast with
Camille Bloom. She's a fabulous Seattle-based
rocker, and we had a great time. But we forgot to take a camera for the first part of the trip. Only
after we made a stop in DC did we pick up my camera. And the photo journey began...
A fan and three musicians. Photo credit: Me.
We spent most of our time on this trip in the car, where we learned backing vocals to one another's
songs. Here's me backing up Camille and trying not to spit
too much on the microphone (I was beat boxing. I don't spit that much when I sing).
Camille got to back me up a bit too! I need a band ALL the time! I miss you Camille!
The road home. Hope no one else takes pictures while they drive! That's not safe!