Home?!

So I finally made it home this past Saturday night, at about 11:30pm, after some 15 weeks on the road. I know that doesn't set any crazy travel records or anything, but it wears you out after a while... It's taken me the better part of the last week to become semi-normal again, but then that'll be quite the task to fully accomplish...

When all is said and done, it's been a pretty solid year. Started a little slow, but by July things had started getting crazy. A summer of festivals, mixing folks like Etta James, and touring with Sam Roberts, a fall with The Stills, who took me halfway around the world and starting the winter with Sean Lennon. Not too bad, I have to say.

There's nothing coming up just yet, which is probably a good thing, so I'll just be hanging out for a while waiting for the phone to ring. A couple offers are sitting on the horizon, so we'll see how those play out...

Until then stay tuned... I've started to remember a few details I missed in my original posts, so I might throw in a couple updates here and there.

Like the night we did Conan, after trying to pack gear in a parking lot in SoHo and failing miserably, we brought some huge road cases back to our hotel rooms and then decided to blow some money on a fancy Italian dinner, which was great. After that, so maybe 12:30am or so, Mike, our FOH guy, and myself decided to take a cab some 50 blocks north to get a slice of calorie-packed, delicious cheesecake, then raced back to the hotel to see Conan. Classic stuff right there...

There's a couple more stories like that, so stay tuned in the days to come...

Sean Lennon Day 13, NYC, again...

I've spent more time in New York City this month than I have at home in the last 4 months. That's kind of cool in a way, but kind of insane in other ways...

We had to get up at 9am today to finish returning some equipment, and that was no easy feat after getting back from Baltimore at 6:30am. It was rough. Fortunately, the traffic wasn't insane yet so it only took an hour to ditch the gear, a few minutes to ditch a van, and then we had time for a quick breakfast at the Moondance Cafe, which you may know as the diner where Kirsten Dunst worked in the Spiderman movies. It was kind of a cool little place, good food.

We had to go back to the hotel after to tie up some loose ends, then after an hour sitting in traffic to get out of the city, I'm currently sitting in the Newark airport in New Jersey waiting on standby hoping to get home earlier than planned. It kind of sucks, but there's not much I can do about it, so, smile and nod, and one way or another, I'll actually be at home tonight. Weird.

Sean Lennon Day 12, Baltimore, MD

Today started early (8:45am) with a "short" drive to Baltimore... Only about 3.5 hrs, so not too bad... We actually got to town a little early so we were able to get some amazing pie at a place run by an ex-punk rock guy who realised he was a better baker than musician, so he quit music to bake pies. Good move on his part...

The venue today was insane. Ram's Head Live is a club but it's equipped like a small arena. Top notch everything, and some things I've never seen before. It was a great place to end the tour.

After the show, we had to drive back to NYC to drop off gear at the band's place, then paperwork at the Dakota, and by the time we were in the hotel it was 6:30am. And with that, we quickly crashed because tomorrow starts at 9am...

Sean Lennon Day 11, NYC

On the schedule this is, in theory, a day off. Theories aren't always correct, and as such, that didn't happen. It started with a wake up call that came far too early, followed by a few hours of driving around Manhattan sorting out backline for the show in Baltimore tomorrow. Boy was that fun. The same way getting a steel-toed kick in the teeth is fun. Best day ever.

That inconvenience eventually ended, and I was able to do a couple productive things like get a haircut and go to Brooklyn to see Matt Mays & El Torpedo, some friends from the Great White North that just happened to be in town. It was great to actually see people I know and have a night where I didn't totally think about work. This tour has been a little on the time intensive side, and our down time happens when the rest of the world rests, so this was a hugely important event. It was a great way to recharge the batteries a bit for the next couple days, which will be long given the travel we have and the loose ends that need to be tied up.

So, hopefully tomorrow will start without the need for caffeination and go pretty smoothly. I'm so close to the airport...

Sean Lennon Day 10, NYC, Conan O'Brien

Early mornings are not fun. TV mornings are especially early. Thankfully the day isn't too crazy, you're just always on stand by. We were set up and done checks by 12pm, and then we began to wait. We waited a while. It was 5pm by the time anything started happening, but overall the day went by pretty fast. There's always something going on in a tv building, especially in NYC, so you're easily distracted.

The taping was fairly uneventful, it's pretty much just like a live show, except only one song is performed. The interesting part is seeing how everything comes together, how many cameras there are, set changes, etc... It is pretty cool...

We ended the day with a gear packing disaster that will have to be fixed tomorrow with a few more drives around Manhattan, but it should be fine. At least now I can say I did the Conan show...

Sean Lennon Day 9, New York City

Ah, the hometown show at last. The show for which everyone stresses out to extremes for no apparent reason whatsoever, but hey, whatever... We got to town and spent two hours driving through Manhattan getting/returning rental gear, and then went straight to the Bowery Ballroom.

Though it's a smaller venue, relatively, it's my favourite club in America. The crew is amazing and it sounds great. What more could I ask for? Soundcheck was painless today, and in general things were moving rather smoothly.

There is a certain surreal atmosphere at this show though... It's a little weird to look across the room and see Yoko Ono with her bodyguards, but then, that kind of stuff is beginning to seem "normal". It comes with the territory with this group, for obvious reasons...

The show was great, everyone was happy, and barring the one thing that got thrown onstage and scared the sh*t out of everyone, it was all good.

We celebrated our survival of the event in the East Village at a wonderful place called Local 138, and had some pretty good early morning pizza. Only problem now is we have to be up at 8:30am to go to the Conan studio tomorrow...

Sean Lennon Day 8, State College, PA

So we get to State College and walk into the brand new State Theater that looks incredible. I see my all-time favourite monitors waiting to be used and I know it's going to be good. Except for one small detail. There's no house crew. They're so new that they don't realize that there should be a house crew there to help with the setup. So, two hours behind schedule, eventually things fall into place after we decided to take things into our own hands.

The show actually went quite well, possibly even the best one so far. We have our new FOH engineer, Mike, on board and so far everyone is getting along just fine. When all was said and done, the show was great.

Afterwards, Mark, our guitar tech, and I went out to sample the State College nightlife, which is, to be completely honest, completely non-existant. For a pretty serious college town, there's not a whole lot going on. Fortunately, there was a 24-hr diner across the street from where the bus was parked, so we were able to kill some time, get some food and meet some locals, who were actually quite cool and entertaining. Ended up being a good time after all.

Now on to NYC for three days. This is when we really figure out what this is all about...

Sean Lennon Day 7, Alexandria, VA

We pulled into Alexandria today not knowing what to expect. None of us had ever been to The Birchmere and it looked a little sketchy from the outside. We walked in, looked around, and realized it was quite the opposite. It's a beautiful room, new gear, great people. All in all, we were set for a good night.

It was a little funny because the venue is more like a dinner-cabaret type place, so people were eating during the show. A drastic difference compared to the dingy rock clubs we'd been in the last couple nights. It was great though, maybe the best night so far.

After the show we had 8 hours to kill, so I went to a sports pub with Matt, our FOH engineer to have a couple farewell beverages as he was leaving the tour after thankfully filling in for someone over the last week. It was an important event as we learned the value of bay seasoning and ranch dressing as a dipping sauce for fries. We even took it a step further and added ketchup and it was great. Now to survive State College...

In related news, we just found out that we'll be doing the Conan O'Brien show on Wednesday next week. Be sure to watch...

Sean Lennon Day 6, Boston, MA

Boston doesn't have anywhere to go for coffee. At least not near the Paradise Rock Club, which is all I really cared about today, and that's not how I wanted to start the day. I eventually found a place quite a walk away, but fortunately the weather was incredible, so the walk wasn't so bad... Fully caffeinated, I was ready to start.

The Paradise isn't my favourite venue, I feel no need to return, but everyone there was great and that made the day pretty fun.

There were some issues with the rig, but it all worked, so the show happened, though it was a little frustrating trying to pull it together, but hey, that's why we're here...

We met a cool Italian student after the show who bought us a couple drinks and the night ended well, and now off to Virginia. Can't wait...

Sean Lennon Day 5, Philadelphia, PA

Day 2 in Philadelphia and it's time for a show. After a breakfast that was mediocre at best, we headed to the Theater of the Living Arts. Everything went rather smoothly during the day, we had a good dinner, and went back for the show.

Changeover was a pain. For some reason the drum fill decided to die, so after delaying the start of the show for some 20 minutes, I had to give up my monitor so the drummer could have one, and I ended up mixing the show with my in-ears. Not fun, but it happened and everything seemed to work out.

After the show, we had way too much time to kill, so we found a pub and a pizza place and eventually we started to make our way to Boston.

Sean Lennon Day 4, Philadelphia, PA

Today was fairly relaxed. It's the one real day off on the tour, so most of it was spent resting. I went out for a little while in the afternoon to get myself an authentic Philly Cheesesteak from Sonny's, and I have to say it was all I expected and more. Fantastic. I had a chance to check out some of the standard tourist stuff too, like Ben Franklin's house, Ben Franklin's grave, Ben Franklin's office, Ben Franklin's sidewalk that he used to get to his house... (do you see a theme here?). Also saw the Liberty Bell. I'm pleased to report that it's definitely bell-shaped. We then went out for some beverages later on in the evening, and I have to say Philly is a bit cooler than I expected. Trips back here won't be feared...

Sean Lennon Day 3, Toronto, ON

It really feels different to be in Canada as opposed to the US, and though Toronto may not be my preferred stop, it definitely felt pretty good.

We pulled up to the Opera House and got going right away, no time to waste today. Thankfully we had a break after soundcheck for a few hours, so we were able to get to a hotel and relax for a bit.

The show went really well again. The opener tonight, Jim Noir, was really good and they're supposed to be on the rest of the tour with us.

After the show, I went over to the Phoenix for the Holiday Jam, an annual fundraiser where Sam Roberts, Matt Mays, The Tragically Hip, etc... play an acoustic show to benefit United Way or Sick Kids Hospital. It was great to see all the people I've toured and worked with over the last couple years, even though it was all too brief. Work calls after all, and it's off to Philadelphia I go...

Sean Lennon Day 2, Chicago, IL

After stopping to get some gear repaired, we rolled into the Windy City right on time for soundcheck. We loaded in to the Park West, a great venue in Lincoln Park, kind of like a mid-size cabaret.

A quick soundcheck out of the way and I had a chance to go feed my cat. It was great to see my cat. He's actually bulked up a little since the last time I saw him, so at least he's keeping warm... I threw around a few toys for him to get some exercise, so if he keeps up the regime, he'll be looking great by New Years.

Back to the venue, and the show went really well again. We all seem to be on the same page and things have been pretty smooth so far.

We didn't have a whole lot of time to hang out after the show as we had to get to Toronto, so 9 hours and a border crossing later...

Sean Lennon Day 1, Minneapolis, MN

I received a very interesting phone call last week asking me if I was available to do a quick tour before Christmas. I pretty much agreed before knowing what was going on, simply because extra money before the holiday season is usually a pretty good thing. And then I'm told it's a Sean Lennon tour. Not too shabby...

So, with details worked out, I board a plane in Ottawa to fly to Toronto, Cleveland and then land in Minneapolis for the first show, not knowing anyone, going in completely cold, both socially and technically. I've never gone into a tour like that, so it was a pretty weird feeling on my way out.

I got to the venue, First Avenue, around 2pm, met everyone and we started piecing together the show. It moved a little slowly as we were figuring everything out as we went along, but after a 6 hour (?!) session, all was settled, we went for food and then back for a show.

There was a really good crowd, really into it, the band played reat and everything went off wonderfully. Everyone was happy, really cool, laid back vibe.

After the show, we went across the street for some "get to know you" drinks, where we were able to observe the local over-the-top lumberjack and pink-headed rooster. We had a good time, back to the bus for some discussion about duality withing exitentialism, and off to Chicago we go....

The Year Winds Down... Or Does It?

4 days in New York City is a great way to end a touring year. Just being in NYC is cool enough, it was a bonus to do 2 sold out shows at the Bowery Ballroom, which is easily the best sounding room I've ever worked in. We had a great after party following the 2nd show on Saturday at a place called Lit. The dj's actually played good music, and we met lots of great people. You know it was a good time when you leave the club and you're hit by daylight... The drive back to Montreal felt a little longer that day...

Now I have one final show with The Stills this year after running all over North America and parts of Europe. It's on Thursday night in Montreal. It's a benefit for Dawson College, where the shootings happened earlier this year. I believe the proceeds will be used to set up a scholarship for the school. I have no idea who else is playing, but it should be a good time.

After that, I was supposed to have the rest of the year off, at least from touring, but a very interesting offer just popped up for the 2 weeks before
Christmas... Decisions will have to be made tomorrow...