I was really honored to be chosen out of many folks to participate in Invasion of the Go Girls, a satellite Women In Music festival, held in Austin with SXSW!

I just got back after a whirlwind trip of a lot of Tex-Mex, a lot of music and some awesome catching up with friends. My good friend, Jenny, shot some pictures of the gig. Behold!

( Click to View Pix )

I am plum tuckered! Got home really late last night after a whole plane debacle (I am in love with JetBlue, the ONLY airline able to get me back to NYC before Tuesday (after Delta canceled my flight), relatively on time and with satellite TV to boot. Awesome.) and kicked off Easter week with Palm Sunday. It's going to be a long one!

That said....

Please make note of some upcoming events. Must sees, if you ask me. :-)

First, Andi Rae Healy's 15 Minutes of Fame Monthly Open Mic at Kenny's Castaways continues its reign. Please join Andi (and me) for this very fun talent filled (and yes, while we *are* talented :-), I am referring here to the many other folks who came out - including Julius, Ann Klein, David Goldman and others - are AWESOME!) night. It is the last Wednesday of each month and starts at around 7:30. Kenny's is set up for solo or bands so if you want to bring your band or some supporting musicians that would be awesome and can be accommodated. (FYI - at this time, there is no keyboard but feel free to bring one.)

Second, also hosted by Andi Rae, is her Second Annual Earth Day Benefit held this year also at Kenny's Castaways. I will be playing with my entire band that night PLUS special guest, Joe Brent, in to add something special with his violin on some of my tunes. I canNOT wait for this show. It's going to be really special. It's free (although, there is an opportunity to donate to green charity in the night) with lots of prizes and give aways.

Saturday, April 19 at 7:30

Kenny Castaways
157 Bleecker Street

See you there!

Thank you SO MUCH! To everyone who came out to Googie's last night. It was such a special evening and it meant so much you were all there to share it with me.

I'm so glad you all enjoyed the mini-band as well! It was such a success I'm going to plan some more of these types of shows into the calendar.

Especially when I have new tunes to show off - you can all fully hear every word. Feel the angst.

:-)

Have a great day. Be sure to check the calendar and come down to Kenny's and see Sammy Merendino's showcase series. I'm playing some of my tunes (and Andi Rae is playing some of hers as well) with his awesome band. He's featuring a whole night of different artists (I'll be on November 13th *and* November 27th between 8:00 and 9:15). That show is followed by a kick ass jam session. Sammy's band are friends of his from his days on the road - top notch players - and it's going to be amazing and amazingly fun! I'll post more when I get more information but please come down. It's free!

Hugs.

Alex

Hey everyone. I'm gearing up for the next show and in case you are NOT on my mailing list, here are the highlights on what's been going on this summer.

First of all, I'm moving to finish my second new song of the summer. After many months of writing bits and pieces, I feel like suddenly I have ideas aplenty. In July, I premiered 'Shut Me Out' which is basically a breakup song about being in something you feel is going great and then in the course of one or two weeks, your guy just turns off flat and clearly closes the door on everything. As sad as that sounds, Shut Me Out is pretty catchy and we are so doing that song again :-). I have big love for this tune and you are warned, it's infectious. Feel free to sing along! That's the idea!

My next show is at the Bitter End with the Band this coming Friday and I hope you all can make it out. I'll be premiering 'Fly Away,' a very Chantal Kreviazuk-ish ballad-ish new tune. It really needs a gospel choir to go with it but since I've only just finished it, that isn't going to happen for this gig unless one of YOU shows up with them. (If you were planning on bringing a gospel choir *anyway* which, wow, great timing! or are now planning on bringing one to help me out, please comment so I can have the soundguy set up mics for them. Thanks!) In any event, it's a very sad tune but again, I'm me so I tried to make it as catchy as possible. It features Ann on acoustic and me on piano, no electric. Should be cool!

So, Friday, September 7th, Bitter End, 8:30! (Click for details). Also, this show marks the one year anniversary of the release of Perfectly Broken. Wow, the time has flown! Come sing my song Birthday for my album. It deserves it. It's been a very good album for me.

The band for this show is:

Moi
Ann Klein, guitars
Max Hinojosa, bass
Willard Dyson, drums
and special guest backup vocalist, singer-songwriter Elaine Romanelli (Thank you, Elaine!!)

In other news, I won a contest! I was one of 15 singer-songwriters to be chosen to be featured on the Go Girls Music 2007 Compilation Sampler CD. Go Girls' is an international organization celebrating, promoting and supporting women in music for many years. It's a great place to exchange ideas and as such most indie women belong. So this is a big honor! I'm thrilled to be one of the people on the CD (they are using "Goodbye Without Leaving"). It will be available at major music festivals and smaller Go Girls events over the coming year.

Lastly, my quest to get shows at new venues is starting to take shape. Please mark, Monday, October 29, 2007 at 7:30 in your books for my next show which will be at Googies' Lounge above the Living Room. I'm extremely psyched to play there. It's a nice room and quiet and they have a baby grand so yay! As a rare NYC event, I'll be playing solo with a few special guests. I can't wait to do that for you guys as I did on tour all last fall. I'll keep you posted as that one is further planned. But I do need to make a GOOD showing so if you can make it at all, please do! I'd love to play there again and I'd LOVE to play the downstairs room which is really happening and very hard to book. They use Googies as a test ground! Help me move downstairs.

I'll speak to you all very soon. Thanks so much for your support and see you Friday!

Ciaozers.

Yesterday evening was a *weird*. I was walking to my church choir rehearsal and noticed that the streets were much more crowded than usual (it was more of stroll to church - literally, could not move faster due to all the bodies), there were a ton of sirens and people were on their cell phones, many looking panicked or crying. Some woman was a basket case talking on her cell phone about the 'explosion in the Empire State Building.'

I'm shocked that in 'this day and age', here in *Manhattan* people would be so alarmist... freak first, ask questions later. Haven't we learned yet? It almost always is an infrastruction type problem. But 9/11 has definitely stayed with people - that is clear. For myself, I managed to stay calm but had that awful feeling at the pit of my stomach, much like I felt going home after the blackout, before we knew it was merely a technical problem, not anything nefarious. Ugh. I asked a group of businessmen standing on the steps of my church, looking south at the billowing cloud of smoke that was now clearly seen down Park Avenue (and you can't SEE down Park Avenue where we were - you can see about 10 stories up - that's a lot of smoke) what had happened and he said a transformer had blown.

Everyone was wrong - there was a steam pipe explosion which our music director at church told us about when we arrived. I didn't see any of the footage until today, due to extreme fryage (which I'll get too in a sec) but wow. What a mess and sounds and looks seriously scary (there's a slide show at that link). And asbestos? They are supposedly checking the air quality. That said, it's hot and 80% humidity so I'm fairly certain we are all getting some unhealthy exposure at this point. Nice.

I'm happy to say that earlier in the day was much more fun. I was in a crappy mood due to humidity (it's just gross here) but went to rehearse with my band for our gig tomorrow night. I was extremely concerned about timing - two guest musicians, Tobias Ralph and Max Hinojosa... two hours to rehearse (including setting up, chatting about this or that, etc.) and a new tune. After the first tune, I knew we would have more than enough time for everything. These guys just KILL my music. So amazingly great. The band vibe is great and they had amazing ideas for the new song that really brought it into its own. Now I just need to remember the tons of lyrics that it contains! :-) Needless to say, tomorrow night is going to be a lot of fun. I'm very excited to debut the new tune and for everyone to hear this group. Awesome.

Today, I'm chilling out, getting ready for the show. Deciding what color my hair should change to, if any (haircut appointment tonight which tends to lead to new color ideas!), and trying to recover from rehearsing with my band and the church choir for about six hours yesterday. I'm not used to singing this much! My legs feel heavy - I need a nap! Luckily, I got a new shipment from Netflix which I'll be watching tonight with mollythedog. Action movies. How can I go wrong?

Starting to get very excited about the show this Friday. I've been excited - don't get me wrong - but since I advertised I'd be performing a new song (which, at the time, was nowhere near done), I've been seriously freaking out. Luckily, Andi was around and I spent the past week emailing her rough MP3s of the song, including numerous revised lyric sheets, and, using her really on-point comments, I finished the song in the *nick* of time. AWESOME. You have no idea. Wrote out sheet music, scanned it and sent it out to the musicians. Hopefully, it will be as fun and catchy as it sounds in my head, right? *fingers crossed* It's called Shut Me Out and is basically about one of those relationships that seems to be going great and then the other person just suddenly turns totally cold and dumps you. Yeah. I'm sure we've ALL been there. But it came out really well and I have to say I'm psyched to finally be doing something new. I love all my songs but I suspect you guys must all get hungry for something fresh at times. I'm working on a few others. Hopefully by September, I'll have another piano based tune for you. Here's hopin'.

The band's getting together on Wednesday to rehearse. Willard and Cliff are away doing jazz-type things but I have found awesome people to play in their stead: Tobias Ralph (who everyone I asked seemed to recommend) and Max Hinojosa, who plays bass with Andi and also is part of a three-piece awesome rock band, Julius. (Seriously, check them out.) Andi's going to sing and Ann has some new ideas of her own. I love when the music develops like this. When little colors get added and the songs come into their own. I also love playing with different people because I feel like that helps the songs develop as well. Plus, I always seem to get new song ideas on these gigs. It's like hearing the band live just gets my mind going. I'm looking forward to that.

It's hot here in NYC and doesn't seem to be cooling off. And, yes. July. But it's been beautiful lately and mollythedog and I even got to the park this week when my niece Ashley visited for a couple days. She (Molly, not Ashley) chased a squirrel and all was right in her world. Speaking of Ashley, she lucked into being here when Andi (Rae Healy) was doing a show at Rockwood (assisted by me and Ann). What a fun show! I love playing and singing backup for Andi and she/we had a really nice vibe going that night. I'm hoping to sit in next time (her next show is August 1 - check it out). I'll keep you posted.

It's late and I need to sleep! To speed that along, links that should be included above are listed below instead. It's faster!

http://andirae.com - click to read about her upcoming show at Spanky's.
http://www.ann-klein.com - read about Ann's exploits and upcoming shows of her own.
http://www.alexsweeton.com/gigs1.html - info about my show this Friday at Bitter End. Hope to see you there!

Ciao.

Hey everyone. Things here have been great. Had an excellent concert with the Albany Symphony's Dogs of Desire New Music Ensemble last month which was a blast. Thanks to all who came out!

I have a few things coming up I wanted to highlight. Of course, there is my upcoming show at the Bitter End (details below).  I'm *extremely* excited about it for several reasons.  I decided to go a bit more intimate on this one. It's something I've wanted to do for a while - to completely take over the reins of the piano and acoustic guitar on my shows. I'm not sure I'll do it always but I'm really excited to do it for this one. I like getting in there and diggin' in, as they say, and it's been great getting into the tunes from that side of it - a new perspective.  I also have a great guest guitarist playing this one as well.  Hope to see you all there.

There's also a bunch of stuff I'm involved with this weekend.  First, I'm going to be played on two internet radio shows, one of which is a newbie to me. Jody Reavis has a show on Torrart Radio called Independent Exposure where she plays a variety of independent acts and the gamut of genres. She'll be playing either Bad Day or Goodbye Without Leaving (not sure which) so tune in.  The show is very late at night so if you live in a different time zone and keep missing me on Dan Herman's show due to the time difference, this could very well work better for you. Jody will be playing me during her show this Monday, April 23, 1:00-3:00 a.m.  Click the link above to tune in.

Several hours earlier on April 22 from 7 p.m.-1:00 a.m., I'll be featured on Dan Herman's RadioCrystalBlue. He's playing me as part of his 2007 Airplay Contest. I'm doing well in the contest but while you are there, please vote for me also and boost my numbers!  Tune in at the link above.  Also, if you *can't* tune in, Dan archives all his shows so, after-the-fact, you can take a listen as well (same link).

ALSO on April 22, I will be helping out Andi Rae Healy at her co-hosted benefit show for Earth Day at the Living Room here in NYC.  I'll be playing piano and singing backup.  If you haven't heard Andi's music yet, you should! Come on down and check us out.  For details, click Andi's name in the prior sentence.

Hope to see you and/or have you 'see' me in the coming weeks and I look forward to catching up one on one with you all! Take care and enjoy the non-rain while you can. Hugs.

BITTER END!

Friday, May 4th
8 p.m.
$7 cover

Bitter End is located at 147 Bleecker Street (corner of LaGuardia) in the Village.  I have some great musicians with me, including guest guitarist, Steve Elliot, as well as Cliff Schmitt (bass) and Willard Dyson (drums).  I'm playing everything else!  See you there!

How has everyone been?  Things here are great.  The Carnegie show was great; the pooch is great and everything is falling into place. 

I have a bunch of stuff coming up I wanted to share....

First a couple shows - NY and AUSTIN!

NYC!  Alex and the Band at the Bitter End!
                    ~~~
Thursday, March 15, 2007, 8:45 p.m.

Special "Ides of March" Show!  Come 'forbode' with us! 

The Bitter End
147 Bleecker Street
(at LaGuardia)
$7 cover.

I'm breaking out the acoustic for this show.  Join Ann Klein, guitars; Jerry Korman, piano; Cliff Schmitt, bass; Eric Halvorson, drums; Andi Rae and myself as we properly ring in the Ides of March with some nice dark tunes!   Et tu, Brutus?

And second...

Austin!  Alex plays Special Solo Showcase as part of Invasion of the GoGirls/SXSW!
                    ~~~
Sunday, March 18, 2007 at 12:00 p.m.

Join me as I invade SXSW with the GoGirls!

B Environmental Studios and Gallery
2214 South 1st Street
Austin, Texas 78704   

This is my first gig in Austin!  SQUEE.  Join jennem  in her squeeing and come on out and hear moi!

And it's FREE! so no excuses! 

Also....

RadioCrystalBlue's 2007 Gem Contest!

One of indie music's best internet radio shows, RadioCrystalBlue, is having a contest and I've been nominated for my new album, Perfectly Broken!  But you need to vote for me so I can win!  Here's the info:

Starting March 1, you can vote for me ONCE per day (bookmark it, yo).  The person with the most votes in their category wins featured airplay and the person with the most votes OVERALL wins gear.  

We were SOOOOO close two years ago when Invisible Girl was nominated.  Let's go all the way this time!  

http://pub36.bravenet.com/vote/vote.php?usernum=3071115404&cpv=1
 
That's the link.  Again, you can vote once per day. 

PIMP ME!

Hugs!
 

It's been a long time!  I've been chug chug chugging along.  And have lots of news to share - see your next email - but in the interim....

I could use your help!

I'm doing this show in Austin.  Other than the lovely jennem I know no one in Austin.  The group I'm playing with has some good... political things going (musically political not governmentally) and I'd like to make a good impression by getting a bunch of people out to the show. 

So, if you know anyone in Austin, can you please tell them how amazingly wonderful I am and how my music rocks your world and OMG it's saved your LIFE at times it's so awesome and to miss me would be to miss one of the most special musical experiences EVER in your LIFE? 

Or something like that?

Here're the details.  It's a short show.  You can hit me on the way home from church and pre-brunch. 

Sunday, March 18th
Invasion of the GoGirls @ B Environmental Studios and Gallery
12 pm - 5 pm
2214 South 1st Street
Free Show! All Ages!

I go on at around 12:30 and play for a half an hour.  It would be great to see people there to see ME as opposed to the other girls - several of whom I have heard of and are reputed to be great so stick around.

If your friends need promo postcards or more details, I can send them to you and feel free to email me at alex@alexsweeton.com and to direct them to my website to hear my tunes or to my new addition, Music Freedom, where all my tunes can be previewed.  BTW, if you want to listen to my album before you buy, you can hear me there! I think it's going to convert to shorter previews soon - the whole song is just a temp thing and it can't be downloaded unless you buy the tunes, iTunes style, but you can listen. 

Thanks so much for any help!  Hugs. 

If you have my CD, please write me a review!  I'd love to get some reviews on my distributor's webpage.  You can go here to leave some nice words:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sweeton2

Oh!  And if you could make it sound like I didn't ask, all the better - LOL.

Also, Jennem seemed shocked to find that I am on iTunes.  Um, my album's totally on iTunes.  Download me baby! 

Just go to iTunes, search the music store for 'Alex Sweeton' and enjoy!

Hugs!  A.

My most excellent friend, photographer and visual artist, Peter Pop shot a ton of photos at the CD Release.  I've created a gallery and have posted it for the next few weeks on my site.  Please go on over and take a look!

http://www.alexsweeton.com/gallery.htm

Let me know what you think!  Leave a note on the guestbook or send me a note.

Ciao!

Hi Alex,

I just wanted to let you know that I can't stop listening to Perfectly Broken. I get a lot of CDs, most of them really good, but I usually don't have time to listen to them once I'm done with the review. I have to move on to the next one. But once in a while I come across something that I just can't push aside and demands that I listen to it. Your CD has done that to me. It's the combination  of the music, your voice, and the lyrics that makes it impossible to stop listening. I just wanted to give you some encouragement and say thanks for making some great music. I look forward to seeing what you do in the future.

Thanks,
Shane

***

How nice is that?

So, I have finished my tour and am heading back to NYC tomorrow. Crazy! It's going to be strange to be in NYC again, given that I've been doing the car thing for weeks and driving through areas filled with no buildings, etc.

I did buy a peace offering for my dog, but I have a feeling it's only the first of many bones I'll need to provide to make this up to her. *sigh*

But, enough of the dire....

And now, onto the last tour blog of Heartland Tour 2006!

I left my friend Elise's on Wednesday having had an amazing few days off. Thanks! Played a show in Columbia, MO on Wednesday the 11th, one of the most fun shows I've played so far. I couldn't figure out why it felt so New Yorky and then I realized that, other than myself, it was a night of all bands. And really nice bands also. Mike from one of the bands, Full Day Affair, started talking to me and even arranged a place for me to stay that night. How nice is that?

Pix - which are sort of erratic as I ran out of power somewhere along the last week of the tour. Need to recharge....



Full Day Affair.



Pic of Mike of FDA, me and Erica, my lovely 'Como' hostess. Thanks so much again, girl! I had a great time!



And lastly, yeah, it was 3 a.m. and FDA had a lot of gear to pack up. So one of them scaled a building to kill time. Pretty representative of where our heads were at at that moment....

***

I spent the next day with my friend Dawn and her kids near St. Louis, MO and the three following days in Nashville. The Bluebird Show was really cool and their 'no talking policy' was *really* cool. I'm so glad I got to do that show. I also got to hear other amazing writers there, including Jenn Schott, a country writer under contract with Sony who has some 'cuts' with Restless Heart and Lonestar. She's an amazing writer, you should check her out.

***

After a massive drive back to VA (12 hours) and a couple days recouping at my Mom's, I bittersweetly set out for my last two shows in Richmond and Williamsburg. Both shows were great and made even greater by the fact that I was playing with Andi Rae Healy my NYC partner in crime/backup singer/songwriter buddy. She's always an inspiration to me and just plain fun to hang out with.

To add icing to the cake, my friend Dave drove down from Maryland to see the show. All that coupled with Andy Moore (not Mandy, yo) and Akshay, a great singer/songwriter who runs the show, made Richmond a really fun night.



Akshay introducing me!



The lovely Andi Rae.



The lovely Andy Moore. Check her out, guys. Awesome.



Me and Dave.



Akshay and Andrew at our little after party at the diner.

***

Aromas in Williamsburg was wild. They do an unbelievably busy business and oftentimes it was crazy loud in there. That said, Andi and I completely enjoyed ourselves and made my last show of the tour really special. Here're some pix. And yes, it got goofy.







Mugging....



Joel and I experimenting with taking pictures of ourselves with Andi's camera.



And one last one, with my dear friend, Andi Rae.

***

Thanks to everyone who helped on this tour and who came out to all my shows. I'm definitely going out again! You guys are all the best and, to my new friends, stay in touch! I loved meeting all of you and hanging out. Meeting everyone is what made this tour special and something I'll remember for the rest of my life.

Many hugs to you all. Rock on! Alex

Before I left for tour, I entered Goodbye Without Leaving and Easier to Lie into the Garage Band music contests.  Garage Band is an international peer-to-peer review website which basically is a big indie music contest.  In addition to getting some extra exposure, you get feedback from people doing what you do and who don't know you.  Always interesting.

In any event, Easier to Lie did well, ending up around 128 out of however many tunes there were - 600?  Goodbye Without Leaving did well and currently is in the '2nd Round' of the Contest.  It's been hanging around at 60-80 on the Pop Rock charts.  In addition, both songs have won many awards including Best Female Vocals in Pop Rock, Best Female Vocals Overall for the Week (which pleased me :-)), best Production, Most Rocking Track, etc.  Also, we've been Track of the Week - featured on GB's main page - at least once.  So this is all very cool.

I'm really proud of this album and it's great to see it get some recognition.  I'll keep you posted on how we're doing. 

Also, as an aside, based on feedback at GB, I feel I should do an Alanis meter for reviews of my stuff.  These are *blind* reviews - you get no name, no band name, no location, no prior reviews, nothing - just the track playing and then you review it.  I think at least a quarter of the reviews compare me to Alanis.  The reviewer in Lawrence also said that.  Amazing!  You think you know who you sound like and, well, there you are.

I'll keep you posted.  Hugs.

Greetings from Kansas. I am just finishing up a mini-vacay stint here in KS with some dear friends I never see. It has been incredibly relaxing and really really fun. Tonight I'm back to work with a gig at the Blue Fugue in Columbia and then it's on to Nashville! Woo hoo.

Lawrence, KS is really a great town. I say that a lot but by 'great' in this instance I mean it's more upstate New Yorky than the other mid-western towns I've been in. Not that NY is better than elsewhere - hold your horses - but it feels very homey and after four weeks on the road, that's awesome. I imagine a lot of that has to do with the fact that it's a college town. And that my friends live here. Nothing says home like seeing old friends, right?

In any event, I had a great show and full house (owing to Elise and Maria's handywork! Thanks guys) on Saturday at the Gaslight, performing with Sarah Blacker. Unlike today (which is around 50 degrees F), the weather was fantastic and we performed outside under the stars. First, let me say that the Gaslight is fairly close to the train tracks. Second, let me say that a lot of trains come through Lawrence. It was pretty hilarious and made it hard to sing at times (due to laughter - it happened that much) - Sarah actually incorporated it into a tune of hers which was pretty funny. (In fact, as I type this I hear a train in the distance!)

It was pretty dark outside so no performance shots but here's a pic of my friends before the gig started and it was total black out!



We've spent the past few days catching up, hanging out with the new baby and just chilling out. Awesome.

I've *also* spent the past few days setting up some stuff for when I get back. So....

Mark your calendars: Alex Sweeton and the band at Bitter End, Thursday, December 7th at 8:00 p.m. It's all of us so get ready to party! I'm really psyched to be back there and with my whole band. It's going to rock.

I'll sign off for now. I'm looking forward to hitting the road again, seeing my friend Dawny in MO, and to meeting some new friends in Nashville and hopefully catching up with fellow touring NYC songwriter (and a member of my songwriter collective) Addie Brownlee in Nashville when we cross paths for about four hours LOL.

This Sunday is the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville and I'm really excited as that's one of those 'dream come true' venues I've always wanted to play. Then two shows next week in my Mom's adopted home state of VA: Richmond and Williamsburg. I'll be performing both shows with the other member of the NYC songwriter collective Andi Rae Healy. Andi and I also will be performing *together* at these gigs as we sing backup for each other at home. It's going to be really special to sing with her again.

You can get all the info on those shows (and the NY return show) here. Just click on the little red 'i' in the box icon to the right of the venue listings for full details. See you all very soon, either virtually or in the flesh and thanks to ALL of you for making this tour such a success, both personally and professionally. It's been amazing and I feel really blessed to have met each and every one of you.

Many hugs! Alex

Hey everyone. I hope you are all well. And Happy Birthday, Elise! Hope it's great.

Things here are moving along. I can't believe I'm already halfway done with the tour! It's been a trip, that's for sure. And behold. I have pictures for ya!

So I spent last weekend (or most of it) in Madison, WI visiting with my dear friend, Rebecca, who I haven't seen in two years who goes to school there. We had a blast hanging out, eating Wisconsin cuisine (brats and fried cheese curds) and seeing the Madison cultural sights. Yes, I am a nerd for stuff like that. Here is Rebecca and me on top of the Madison State Capital Building.



And the haunted Science building at UWMadison:



And one last one from the campus because how pretty is this? Madison is surrounded by lakes and is really a great town:



***

After a great show in Des Moines at Ritual Cafe (and again, I suck and have no pictures for you but wow, what nice people and a really supportive, involved crowd. Awesome!), I headed off into Iowa. I wasn't sure what one does on a day off in Iowa so I got out my map and computer and plotted a course for Loess Hills (which, apparently, is pronounced luss - or for you singer-folk, how you'd pronounce it in German) which is a forest with glacial drift seen in Iowa and China, only. It was in fact very cool and on my way, I passed through Madison County and visited some covered bridges. Here goes....



Downtown Winterset, center of Madison County, where the town shots of Bridges of Madison County were filmed and also the birthplace of John Wayne. Seriously.



And Loess Hills, yum:





Next time I'm in Iowa, I'm definitely planning some time to hike in there. How pretty is that?

***

Tuesday was Omaha. What a cool town and great people. In fact, Nebraska overall was very cool. But back to Omaha, I spent the day hanging out with Michael, the owner of Mick's bar who conveniently had a day off and made me a fantastic grilled tuna dinner (and after all I've been eating on this tour, eating *real* food as I'd eat at home was such a gift and eating it outdoors in 75 degree weather? wow) and then headed off to the gig. I did manage to remember to take some pix at this gig (to be fair, some of these are Michael's!). Go me.

Melissa Greener was the first act and you all have to check her out. Acoustic/roots. She's a great singer, and an even better guitarist and was just so inspiring. She's also a really cool chick and is touring right now - all over - so check her site and go enjoy. Here's one of Melissa and me, Michael and me, and lastly a hilarious one of Mick, Melissa and Holly admiring a picture Holly took of them. They look pleased, don't they?:







I have to say Omaha was very special. Lincoln was very much the same. The people at the Coffee house were *lovely* and the crowd really attentive and nice. And, since the great weather in Nebraska continued, we played the show in the garden out in back of the coffeehouse. An entire evening by fairy lights and with leaves wafting past. Really a unique and special night. And the capper was meeting a fellow classical musician who was also a singer-songwriter at the gig. There are not a lot of us around so when we meet, it's very special. It was great to talk music in my nerdy way all night. I admit it. Total music geek over here.

So, amazing evening for which I have no pictures. Well, they want me to come back so I guess I'll just have to take them up on that!

After Lincoln, I decided to just do a hotel for the night 'en route' to Kansas. I need to remember that things are different out here. I drove for an hour through blackest night under a blanket of stars on this State Highway before I hit a hotel (or, really, anything at all). But, as tired as I was, I've been yearning for starlight and it was pretty magical. Flat, flat country and big sky filled with stars. How can you go wrong? It reminded me of Utah. And, anyone who knows me, knows that makes me happy. Yum.

Anyway, I'll sign off for now. Heading out for Kansas for a gig with Sarah Blacker at Gaslight tomorrow night and to hang with friends from today through Wednesday. Sarah is amazing and I can't wait to play with her. Plus, her background? Boston. So we'll have some East Coast spirit going on. I promise to take pictures! *Promise*.

And, speaking of the East Coast, stay tuned. I'm setting up a Bitter End gig for late November, December. One more time with the mega-band before years' end. Are you ready to par-tay?! I am.

Many hugs, y'all. Speak to you soon.

So my Mom tells me it's been a while since I updated and wow! she was right! The scoop is I was *going* to update in Detroit but then the band I was playing with pulled out a theramin and a sheng and I thought 'hold the phone! I have to take pix of this!' and next thing I knew no internet until today. Oh well.

So a LOT to update. Backtracking to Toledo, I had a lovely *lovely* gig with Toledo songwriter Cory Payne at Brewed Awakenings. He's a great songwriter and a great guy, packed the house and then hosted me for the night and made me breakfast! And his friends are just the nicest people. Here is a shot of Cory:



That next morning, I drove to Detroit (this is now Saturday, 9/23) where I was spending two days with Mom O'Carol. Both her Mom and Dad (and Charliethecat) were lovely, I ate like a queen and had an all-around relaxing time. Her parents live on Lake St. Clair just outside of Detroit. What a beautiful community! I played in Ann Arbor that night to Cory and his friends (who drove up to see me from Toledo!) and some old New Yorker friends who were out visiting their daughter at U of M. Very nice.

The next night was Ferndale (a little suburb/neighborhood) of Detroit. I was doing a 'featured artist' thing (40 minute set) as a part of their acoustic night. Easy. I left for the gig early since Michigan should really lose 'The Auto Industry State!' motto and change its name to 'The Road Work State!' (three roads to get to gig, all three torn up/detoured - not kidding, and *every* road I rode on throughout MI, big and small, had some construction going on) and, despite detours, got there pretty early so I decided to drive down 8 Mile Road just 'cuz. No sign of Eminem or the Big Tire but I did cruise past Hayes Lemmerz which was sort of a hilarious landmark (don't ask).

In any event, everyone has been telling me that gigs would be screwed up on tour but they haven't really been until Detroit. I showed up and there's my poster, etc., they were aware I was coming, etc. but this band was setting up on stage for the all new 'open free improvisation night' Xhedos had instituted. They were great guys (De Fenestra) and I ended up jamming with them and then doing my 40 minutes of pop tunes and then the evening devolved back into free jazz. Hilarious! I mean the Theramin and Sheng were a dead giveaway that 'acoustic night' had been done away with but I have to say we all had a really good time, and Carol's mom (who attended on my behalf) was a total trooper with the crazy!

Here's a pic of De Fenestra:



The next day, after a lovely lunch out with Mrs. A and a quick goodbye to Charlie (who lurves tissue paper), I headed off. Carol, below is a pic of your baby....



I had a lot of time to get to Lansing and the wanderlust hit me so I did a quick drive up to Port Huron, MI to take a peek at Lake Huron (GL#3) - no pix per se as I was overdue for a pit stop - LOL - but it is incredibly blue and what a great place to live! But er, getting cold up here.

Lansing was awesome. Great great vibe. I stayed with Chris Dorman (an *excellent* songwriter you should all check out) and his girlfriend Cory - lovely people. Wolf, the theramin player from De Fenestra was also there! No pictures, unfortunately.

I had a lot of time the next day to get to Chicago so I decided on a side trip to the 'forest'. It's a National Forest on the West part of Michigan. An absolutely *gorgeous* day. 62F, cool breeze, clear open sky. Very farmy on my way up the highway and, as a side note, I was thinking 'Man, it would be great to live here!' and then passed the 'Welcome to _______! Republican Country!' and thought, well, maybe not. LOL.



As an aside, I will say driving through small towns pretty much wherever I'm noticing similarities. Each town has a 'Welcome!' sign that usually sports a 'Home of the...' thing. Typically 'Home of the' titles are 2004 Girls Softball Champions!, etc. but my personal favorite was 'Welcome to Custer! Home of the Clown Band!' I still have NO idea what that is but that just killed me.

In any event, the forest turned out to be sort of 'whatever' (I was picturing pines which were a no-go) but I did stop at Silver Lake on the way down the west coast. They have a major dune situation. Gorgeous!



And when stopping for food, had to take a picture of this: Michigan's Road Work Fall 2006 Guide. As you can see it's pretty extensive:



I got to my cousin Jeff's place in Chicago around 7 p.m on Tuesday eve. I was running ridiculously late until I realized while getting gas in Indiana that I was now in Central Time. Sweet! Suddenly running early. I hung out with Jeff's awesome girlfriend, Susan, until he got home, met their neighbor's dog Zoey (and, while I like cats, dog time was excellent!) and then they made me a homemade pizza. 'Lish. Because I'm horrible about pictures I have no pictures! EEK. I did go shopping at Loft on Wednesday in Lincoln Park (J & S's nextdoor neighborhood) which was a nice taste of 'home'. The route to Lincoln Park is sort of residential crossed with industrial. Has a Williamsburg (Brooklyn) sort of vibe. Despite/Because of? the garbage barge, I thought this was oddly beautiful and snapped some pix:





(Note the people practicing crew. The tall building behind is NOT Sears Tower as I'd thought but the John Hancock building - according to Jeff.)

My Chicago gig on Wednesday was also a bit screwed up but I had a great show and the show was made even better by seeing my dear friend Tiffany who moved to Chicago several years ago. She and her friend Dina came and we went out for brownies and ice cream (very yum) after. The gig was located right by Wrigley Field. I have two pictures for you below. The one that's sort of random is actually - if you look at the top of the buildings in the back - all the apartment buildings near Wrigley Field have bleachers on the tops of them. Companies rent out the roofs of buildings and have special seats there. Crazy, right? The second is the final score. It was tied until bottom of the Ninth. Dina, Tiff and I watched the end of the game through a bar window and could hear the Cubs win before we saw it (tape delay) which was very cool. Sort of like being in my apartment on New Year's Eve. I hear the roar from Times Square just before I see it on TV.







The last picture is at the ice cream place, me, Tiff and her friend Dina. What a great night.

After a morning car tour of Chicago, where Jeff directed me through the Chicago Loop and up and down Lake Shore drive (so awesome), I hit the road and got to my friend Rebecca's place in Madison, WI at around 6. I'm officially on vacation for the next two days and it's great! We walked downtown and had 'typical Wisconsin food' for dinner - a lot of fried cheese and bratwurst. Very delicious but I think my stomach officially hates me LOL. I'll have lots of pictures of WI in my next update. Just know this: I am now in my Fall/Winter coat with cashmere scarf and gloves. It is *that* cold and yes, still September, even in Central Time. Crazy, right?

In a smoky coffeeshop (OH allows smoking seemingly everywhere. *such* a drag and yeah, a pun, but yuck), in Toledo, home of Katie Holmes and Radar.....

Had a great time in Akron with Carrie, who was introduced to me by my NYC singer friend Carol. Carrie was an amazing hostess and has the most gorgeous house. It's craftsmanish with all the original wood restored, beautiful handles on the doors, that sort of thing. Amazing!

The gig was Wednesday. After I arrived at Carrie's, she gave me the mini-tour of Akron which includes the 'theatre where she works.' More on that in a minute. After the tour, we went to Mary Coyle's for the best ice cream I've ever tasted. Homemade, in house, peppermint stick (my favorite flavor, and bizarrely hard to find). Very delicious.

Gig went well. Here are a few pix of both me and my co-biller, blues'man' M. Scott Horn. He has an amazing sound. You should check him out.





The Northside was really relaxed with a very attentative audience (including Sammy's brother, Paul!) which was great. It did go late though so on Thursday (day off) I had a NYC day. Went to the library to surf/email, etc., went to the post office and took care of mailing some CDS to people, etc. In any event, after a day of blissful nothingness and another dish of that ice cream, I went to see Brian Regen at Akron Civic Theatre ('Carrie's' theatre, and she kindly used her powers to score me a comp ticket to see him). Let me just say this about the theatre: Holy crap! I have never seen such a gorgeous theatre anywhere as Akron's Civic Theatre. Really, if you find yourself in Akron you need to visit. I got this shot off the web which gives you an overview and then the subsequent is mine:



By the way, the clouds on the ceiling *move*. They're projections. Here is one close up shot of the audience right side of the theatre.



The show was great, I laughed so hard my face hurt, after which Carrie and I watched videos and hung with her cat, the inimitable Mr. Lippman. Below are pictures of Carrie/me and Mr. Lippman.





BTW, that's my head hair on my chest. The smokyness of Ohio's eating establishments (and, let me tell you, we've all forgotten in NYC how horribly gross smoking in restaurants is - my eyes are burning right now. Total drag) has not made me sprout chest hair although I would not be surprised if my lungs were hairy right now.

In any event, many thanks to Carrie for a great time in Akron and I can't wait to come back.

More soon, everybody. Hugs.

http://www.lawrence.com/events/2006/oct/07/16399/

The voice of NYC's Alex Sweeton voice rides lush, cheery singer-songwriter pop, pulling up a chair at the listener's ear a la Shawn Colvin, Alanis Morrisette and latter day Liz Phair. The lyrics she lays down, though, are closer to earlier Phair or Ani Difranco — vulnerable, but hardly ashamed, broken-hearted but not broken. Assuming she's not going to try to pack the 4-piece band it would take to recreate her albums in the Gaslight, it will be interesting hear her voice and guitar without the pop, and sometimes adult-contemporaryish adornment.

As if I weren't getting enough Lawrence love as it is....

So, my aunt Janet has many animals including a cat named Jack. Now, appearances to the contrary, Jack is clearly a dog. He sleeps with me, wants me to pet him all the time and follows me around the house. Completely hilarious. I'm about to go to sleep and look who's at the foot of my bed?



This cat cracks me up. And I can pet him forever. I know many cats who will let you pet them for a moment before you get the whole *huff* 'How *dare* you touch me?!' thing from them. Jack is content to get pet forever. So funny.

Hey everyone. Just got back from a *great* gig with John McGrail at Cleveland's Barking Spider. Did I remember to take pictures? No. My uncle shot some and if they are digital I will upload. But in the meantime, I have other photos.

First, I shot from a rest area near Utica, NY. Lame I know but the drive from Utica to Rochester was so pretty, I had to take this one:



Next, I totally forgot to take pictures of Ashley Cox at our gig, but I did get a picture of her and her... yes, it is an electric *gamba*, people... gamba-ist(?) at her gig after ours at LeMoyne College. How crazy is that instrument?



Ann Marie, my former NYer friend and church cohort who moved to Rochester to get her DMA at Eastman, was a fantastic host! I spent Saturday and Sunday nights with her. We had a great time in Rochester, taking in a tour of George Eastman's house (Kodak guy) and then a Weinberg/Shostakovich recital at Eastman, then some *amazing* jazz by Bobby Sneider (my best friend Robin's bro-in-law) - all on Saturday night. On Sunday, I made the drive to Buffalo and played the show with Madeleine White and Jeremy Moore, both amazing musicians. You should check them out (google). Bluegrass/folk. Just fantastic. Here's a shot of me that Ann Marie snapped and a sort of crappy one of Madeleine and Jeremy I took which I'll post just for historical purposes. Unfortunately the only photos I have of AM were from the photo booth at Eastman house so not digital. Oh well.





Sunday night after the Buffalo gig, back in Rochester, Ann Marie and her boyfriend Jim took me on a drive out to see Lake Ontario. I'm hoping to see at least 4 of the Great Lakes on this trip. Here's a shot of the harbor. Pretty, no?



On Monday, I headed to Cleveland but since I was only about 20 miles away from Niagara Falls (when passing Buffalo), how could I not? I did the 'Cave of the Winds' tour where you basically climb 'into' the edge of the American Falls. I got seriously wet!



And, last but not least, when in Cleveland... Today, I went to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. Very cool. You aren't allowed to take a camera into the place, so I leave you with a shot of the outside of the building. Very not cool, but you do what you can, right? BTW, the water behind the RRHoF is Lake Erie. Great Lake No. 2.



Totally bummed I got no pictures of John McGrail. Great musician (sort of political, sort of straight acoustic) and one of the nicest people I've ever met. And, wow, Cleveland. Great little city. Everyone's so nice and extremely down to earth. I caught Charlie Mosbrook's set at the Barking Spider last night and he turned up tonight and hung out with me for hours while we checked out John's set (about 2.5 hours long). John hung posters for me all over and a couple myspacers came out and supported me. I was really moved. Plus my aunt, uncle and cousin (who are hosting me here in Cleveland) all came and were very supportive. It was a special evening.

Tomorrow, I go off to Akron and stay with best-friend-of-Carol for a few and then parents-of-Carol for a few more! I'm looking forward to tomorrow's show. Wish me luck?